The Third Challenger
by Sandy Star
Summary: A 'typical' but lucky Pokémon fangirl gets her wish granted by Arceus and ventures into the Pokémon World as Leaf Green. Will she make pokémon friends like she hoped, or weird out all of the 'game' characters? Or maybe both? Rated T for mild language and a little more than cartoon violence. No pairings but shipping goggles are fine.
1. Prologue: New Reality

**The Third Challenger**

**Prologue**

**New Reality**

* * *

Our story begins in the pastel coloured bedroom of a young adolescent girl. She is unremarkable in terms of looks but the happy smile on her face makes you forget that.

The game console she is playing erupts into a victory theme and the girl sighs in satisfaction. She listlessly scrolls through the remaining dialogue and sets the device down when the end credits begin to play.

She lies on her bed, staring into the ceiling. Her mind drifts off to what happened earlier that day. Subject choices. The all-important sheet laid, wanting to be forgotten, on the side of her desk on top of the other bits of 'junk' paper.

She had trouble deciding, really. There was nothing that caught her eye and made her think '_This is it!_'. Whatever she happened to be good at, never sparked up her passion.

It forced her to think of what she would do in the future. It was inevitable after all, that day had to come someday.

It struck her suddenly, how utterly _boring_ to live in this world was. You go to school everyday, graduate, get a job, earn your living and die, just like that. What fun was that? No sense of adventure at all.

Sometimes she wished that she was born in the past. At least, back then, the world was full of mystery and new places to explore. In this present day, everything was already discovered, anything that you want to know is on the tip of your finger, simply surf the internet. It was so easy that it was laughable, really.

She tuned in on the cheerful music playing on her console. This is nice, she thought, to be on a constant adventure with trusting friends and still many more to make.

She was asked when she was younger, what she wanted to be when she grew up. She had innocently replied: "_I want to be a Pokémon Trainer!_". The adults had laughed it off but she had truly meant every word. Now it was a bitter-sweet memory.

Alas, being good at _Pokémon_ meant nothing in the real world. You don't make money by making fictional creatures attack other fictional creatures. It doesn't magically conjure up food to help you sustain. Nope, it just gives you demeaning sniggers behind your back.

The music cranked up into a more inspiring beat, making the girl smile despite her grim thoughts.

_This is nice... I wish I could join in on the fun..._

A powerful, incomprehensible being heard her thoughts._ '**That can be done.****'**_

Against her will, her eyes fluttered shut and she lost consciousness as the ending credits came to a close.

xxxxxxxxxx

_**'So, human, you wish to join our world?'**_

The girl woke up to be greeted with a huge shock. "A-Arceus?!" she gasped.

No, that wasn't just a remark of surprise equivalent to 'Oh my God!'. There floating before her was that magnificent pokémon that people could only dream of seeing. He was supposed to be fictional after all. But the game sprites and fan art could never do the real thing justice. They forgot to capture the raw power he seemed to effortlessly emit and the grand confidence he had with every little movement he made. He was not just a pokémon. He was Arceus. If the girl never felt overwhelmed before, she sure did now.

She took a quick glance around and saw a universe. Or something like that. She seemed to be in space, black skies all around her lit up with countless milky stars. She would have suffocated long ago, logically thinking. Therefore, she concluded that this was a dream.

She froze on the spot as Arceus's ruby red gaze fixed itself on her and found that she couldn't tear her eyes away. This was supposed to be a fantasy but this being commanded fear and obedience, no matter which world he was in. All thoughts that this was just a dream were promptly wiped away from her mind.

Arceus had no visible lips to smirk with, but the girl could sense that he was amused by her fear. _**'As you **__**may **__**know, I am Arceus, Creator of the Pokémon World, and your master for the time being.'**_

His deep voice echoed everywhere in the space around her as well as the private crevasses in her own mind. It wasn't painful as one might think telepathy would be. It was comparable to a gentle breeze blowing through curtains, if that made sense.

Arceus intended to reassure the girl, and she calmed down a little. This allowed her to remember the last thing that was said.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'master for the time being'?" Then, she realised that she might come across as being rude. Not a good idea in front of a pokémon capable of destroying you by willing it. "I-if you don't mind me asking?" she tacked on, nervously.

Arceus didn't seem to mind. **'**_**I heard your desire to be with pokémon and to take a journey along with them. Therefore, I will be granting your wish by creating a world where you can have your fun. However, it will still be a world that belongs to me and I will be in control of everything that **__**happens**__** in there, including you. Do you accept this offer?**__**'**_

The girl considered this. She timidly raised her hand as if in a school classroom. "Could I ask one question?"

_**'Ask what you will, human.'**_

She bravely stared into Arceus's eyes, and he stared back, equally as hard. "Why are you doing this for me, when I'm just a... forgettable human?"

Arceus's eyes didn't change. _**'**__**A**__** whim.**__**'**_

The simple answer caused the girl to giggle suddenly, letting go of all the tension she had in her stomach. "Oh, I see!" She believed his words with her very soul and found that she couldn't stop smiling. "Alrighty then, I accept! Take me to the Pokémon World, please!"

**_'__As you wish. But firstly, are you a male or a female?__'_**

Her insides warmed up in nostalgia from the silly question. _Just like in the game_, she thought. "I'm a female!"

* * *

**A/N: **No, Arceus is not stupid (ack! forgive me for even implying that My Lord!), he's trying to make the heroine a new identity, namely Leaf. So, if she said so, she could have been male (Red). Since, Leaf hasn't had a canon personality (as in Game!Leaf) it should be okay for this character to be Leaf through and through. I'm leaving her nameless for this purpose.

Despite how dull I sound here, this fanfic will be focused on humor with just snippets of seriousness from time to time. Strictly no pairings, even if I'm an avid shipper myself, so not kissing (on the lips) or sappy mushy stuff. But there will be oodles of friendship feels, bonds and whatnot!

I've had this idea of making an OC-insert story for a while now. I thought I would be the first but I had discovered _My Name? Catch M Hall _by _Sethera_ far too late (brilliant story, check it out if you haven't already). It would make my story pale in comparison but it did inspire me to make mine more realistic. Hey, well perhaps we'll create a trend (admittedly, I haven't looked into it that much, so there may be some more hidden gems out there that have escaped me).

Nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy 'The Third Challenger'!


	2. Ch1: Hee

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 1**

**Hee~**

* * *

She opened her eyes to see a tv screen showing a classic '_Mario__'_ game. She was forced to watch the character fall off the platform instead of saving him with the remote she belatedly noticed in her hand. _Whoops, sorry Mario, _she apologised.

After switching the tv off, she looked outside the window. She saw cute little houses and lots and lots of green. Typical countryside scenery but what she was looking for was...

_Ah! There it __is__!_ She rushed up to the window to take a closer look. "A genuine Pidgey!" she gasped.

The small bird was just sitting on the tree branch next to her window, minding its own business and preening his feathers, unaware of being ogled at like a zoo animal by the creepy girl pressing her face up against the glass.

When the beautiful creature started to take off, she snapped out of her fangirling. She mentally slapped herself for losing focus so easily. _What are you going to be like for the other pokémon if you get this excited for common Pidgey?_ She berated herself and resolved to be cooler.

Nodding to herself ambitiously, she made for the wooden desk with the computer, hat and already-packed bag. She withdrew the potion from the computer, knowing that it would be handy later on, then logged off.

She took a small moment to marvel at the signature premier ball hat before donning it grabbing the yellow shoulder bag.

The bag was sadly lacking of much items inside besides the essential clothing and food. But her brand new shiny Trainer Card was in there. She grinned at it. Even though it was also sadly lacking in content, it was only the beginning.

She turned around to observe herself in the full body mirror across the room. White shoes matching the premier ball hat atop her head, loose blue socks, red pleated skirt, blue top and black wristbands. In a moment of giddy lunacy, she made a pirouette, vibrant green eyes winking at her in the mirror. Her long tangled hair flapped about like tree branches in the wind.

"I really am Leaf..." she whispered, mesmerised by the image in the mirror.

With a grin she made for the stairs and looked around the room one last time. A poster caught her eye with all three pokémon starters and a messy scribble at the side saying: 'Have Fun! No Regrets!'

"Sure will! Sure won't!" Leaf replied, bidding goodbye to the sunny bedroom of a hopeful young girl.

Downstairs, she locked eyes with her 'mother', who sighed and muttered, "...Right. All girls dream of travelling. It said so on tv."

Leaf laughed. "Oh, Mom! You and your tv!"

She smiled, although it was a woeful smile. "Oh, yes. Professor Oak, next door, was looking for you."

"Okay! I'm off! Bye-bye!"

She gave one last hug to her 'mother' as she went out the door.

It was sweltering outside, and she mentally thanked the hat for shielding the sun out of her eyes.

She followed the signposts to the Pokémon Professor's lab until she caught sight of the man himself along with a boy with a red cap. "Good morning, Professor Oak!" she called out. "You needed me?"

"Hm?" Oak turned around to face me. "Who were you again?"

She wasn't bothered in the least. "It's Leaf, you old nut! You haven't forgotten about me, have you?"

The Professor looked thoughtful, and then, for a brief second, his eyes flashed a watermelon colour. Leaf knew it wasn't her imagination. _Heh, never thought of the day I __would __associate Arceus with watermelons, _she mused.

Her identity clicked to him. "Oh! Of course it's Leaf! Come along now, we're going to the lab!"

Leaf fell into step with the boy with the cap who was trying hide himself underneath it. She stared at him openly, wondering if this boy was who she thought he was.

Deciding to be blunt, Leaf broke the silence. "Say, are you perhaps... Red?"

The boy went stiff and refused to meet Leaf's eyes. Nevertheless, Leaf didn't grow discouraged by his seemingly cold behaviour. Nothing could possibly break her excitement at this point.

A few moments later, he looked in her direction and nodded.

"Oooh! Yes! I knew it! Eheheh..." Some short and discomforting giggles, that would have been more fitting on a Mismagius rather than an 'innocent' young girl, tumbled out from Leaf's lips. Red looked at her oddly.

"Eheh... Ah, don't mind me... I've seen you around... You're... a pretty cool guy." Leaf lied smoothly. She wasn't going to tell the currently twelve year old boy that he would grow up to become an epic legend of the Pokémon fandom, that he was the only trainer who could give her the chills in a pokémon battle...

The walk across Pallet Town to Oak's lab took longer than Leaf had remembered, but that was to be expected since distance in this world and the game should be different. _The long journey is what makes an adventure, after all,_ Leaf concluded.

Their small group made it to the lab, where the boy Leaf knew to be the rival, with his characteristic auburn '_Dragon__b__all__'_ hair, jumped at the sight of them. "Gramps! I'm fed up of waiting!"

The professor paused. "Blue? Let me think...Oh, that's right, I also told you to come! Just wait!" Leaf giggled at Blue. To be forgotten by his own grandfather!

The amusing thoughts dissolved from Leaf's head as Oak led the three of them to a green desk with three red pokéballs on it. Leaf had to control herself at this point, not to start panting heavily with excitement, lest she made the professor change his mind.

"Here, children." Oak made a grand gesture to the pokéballs. "There are three pokémon held inside these pokéballs." The other two kids were putting two and two together and were starting to grin in anticipation. "When I was young, I was a serious Pokémon Trainer. But, in my old age, I have only these three left. You can have one each. Go on, choose!"

The two boys exchanged looks. Blue spoke first. "Heh, I don't need to be greedy like you. I'm mature! Go ahead and choose, Red!"

Leaf playfully threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, so I'll just be chopped liver on the side, then." she said sarcastically. "Ignore me, why don't you?"

At this, Red looked guilty, although that wasn't exactly Leaf's goal. She meant to annoy Blue, who finally took notice of her. "Hang on, who are you?" he asked, rudely pointing his index finger at her.

She crossed her arms and pouted. "I'm Leaf, dammit."

Blue flipped his hair and gave a cocky grin. "Then, you must be a dweeb like Red then, cause I've never heard of you before. Heh, you must have heard about me though, after all, I am _the_ infamous Blue Oak!" He kept wiggling a brow at Leaf, fully expecting her to make a sudden realisation of horror and bow to her knees in worship.

Instead, Leaf blew a raspberry at Blue, whose grandiose act cracked in shock.

"Um," Red spoke up for the first time. "I wouldn't mind if Leaf chose first."

Leaf's head whipped round to face Red, her eyes glittering in happiness. "Really? Are you sure, Red?" He nodded.

"Yes! Thank you!" She squealed, surprising Red with a quick hug. She then approached the table.

The professor, who had been watching their antics with a good-natured smile on his face, guided Leaf through the pokémon. "Now, Leaf." He gestured to the left pokéball "This is Bulbasaur, the Grass pokémon," The middle pokéball. "Squirtle, the Water pokémon," And the right pokéball. "And, Charmander, the Fire pokémon. Which one will you choose for yourself?"

"Hm... Good question." She tapped, her chin in a thoughtful way. "I think I will choose..." Her hand lowered over the left ball excruciatingly slowly, making the boys sweat as they watched.

"Just kidding!" she chirped, quickly switching her hand to the right ball as it was one millimetre away from Bulbasaur's ball, making everyone in the room fall over in shock. "I've made my choice since the beginning. Charmander, come on out!" She pressed the button in the centre and tossed it up.

"Char!" An orange lizard hopped out of the ball and proceeded to give Leaf a gleeful hug. She hugged him just as happily as she softly stroked his scaly skin, taking care not to touch his flaming tail.

_He's so warm!_ she fangirled inwardly, but she also felt the dirty looks being aimed at her, specifically from Blue.

She gave him a short explanation. "Hey, did you really expect me to choose Bulbasaur just because my name is Leaf? I love Charmander and that's that!"

No matter how many times she reset the game or played a different one and chose a different starter, her heart never warmed up faster than when choosing her first pokémon, Charmander. She believed that the main factor in choosing him all those years ago was because of the cool-looking dragon, Charizard, on the cover of her FireRed box. But she was very young and could only choose her main party based on looks. Not that she regretted it now.

Because Charmander was alive, moving and breathing and emitting heat just like any other living creature! Leaf gave him a light squeeze and Charmander reciprocated by burrowing his face into her neck, happy to have found his destined trainer at last.

The two of them had wandered off into their own world and by the time Leaf came to her senses, Red and Blue had already chosen their pokémon.

Red had an innocent faced Bulbasaur in his arms while Blue was seething with a none-the-wiser Squirtle in his.

Leaf weakly covered a giggle with her hand. "Hee~ Blue couldn't choose a type advantage over Red, like he hoped he could!" she teased.

Red tilted his head in confusion and Blue visibly reddened in mortification. "Oh yeah! Well my pokémon is stronger than yours, for sure! Come on, I'll take you on!"

Leaf was about to reject his challenge because she couldn't wait to start her journey, when Charmander started to growl at Blue. She then remembered that the Charmander race were naturally competitive.

"Heh, I see." She wasn't upset at all, in fact, she found this trait of his endearing. "You wanna go at him, Charmander?" she asked, and the lizard nodded eagerly.

"Fine then, Blue! Let's take this outside!"

In her peripheral sight, she saw Oak sighing in exasperation. "Oh, for Pete's sake... So pushy as always." Leaf idly wondered if he meant her or Blue.

They moved to the lab's back yard where they had enough space for Charmander and Squirtle to face each other several metres apart. Leaf and Blue stood behind their pokémon while Red observed the match from afar.

Professor Oak lingered on Leaf's side. "Leaf, you've never had a pokémon battle before, have you?"

Leaf waved him off, focusing her eyes on Charmander. "Nah, I'll be fine, Professor. You should go support your grandson over there or you'll fail as a grandfather!"

At her flippant words, Oak's eyes looked mournful as he went over to Blue. He too, chased off his grandfather, his pride not accepting any help especially when his enemy had already rejected it.

"I will be the referee for this battle. First trainer to faint the opponent's pokémon wins!" Oak raised an arm. "Start!"

"The first move always counts!" Leaf declared. "Scratch!"

Charmander leapt forward and unleashed his claws on Squirtle, causing the little guy to stagger back in pain.

Blue gritted his teeth. "Well, I know how to prepare! Tail Whip!"

Leaf grinned like a maniac. "Pull back and clash tails!"

Her voice rang with confidence across the field and successfully reached the fire lizard, who promptly jumped backwards to avoid the blue, curled tail and hit it with his own. It wasn't a status lowering move and the Tail Whip did lower Charmander's defence, but the result was a nasty burn on Squirtle's tail from the fire on the end of Charmander's.

Blue was incredulous. "WHAT?! How is that even possible?!"

Leaf shrugged. "Charmander can't learn Tail Whip, but there's nothing to prevent him from using his tail fire, anyway. Also, Blue," She tilted her hat downwards in a crude imitation of Red and smirked. "The battle's not over yet!" She exchanged nods with Charmander. "Scratch!"

With a mini battle cry, Charmander struck at Squirtle with his claws, shocking Blue out of his stupor. He growled under his breath. "Tackle!"

Squirtle head butted Charmander in the chest, dealing major damage. It was a critical hit. For a moment, Leaf was worried, but continued having faith in her pokémon. "Scratch!" she commanded.

The battle went on, Scratch after Tackle, until finally, Squirtle collapsed from his injuries. Leaf's heart went on thudding against her ribcage as she crouched down to her Charmander's level. "We did it." she whispered in wonder. Then it struck her. "We did it! We won our first battle!"

"Char!" Charmander lifted a claw tiredly, but he was just as happy as she was.

"Hm, Interesting battle..." Oak mused. "Okay, Red, did you take enough notes?"

Red nodded. Leaf half-expected to see pen and paper in his hands but they were empty. _Must be in his head then._

"That Tail Whip clash was rather... brash of Leaf, but it worked out in the end because it inflicted a burn on Squirtle, halving the power of Squirtle's attacks and allowing Charmander to last longer." Oak analysed.

"Hey, it wasn't brash! It was genius!" Leaf retorted, striking a triumphant pose.

"Oi!" Blue glared at Leaf as he marched towards her. "My pokémon just needs more training to toughen them up! Then I will win!" He turned to Red. "And wait for it, Red! We will battle soon and I will win."

Blue pasted his trademark smug grin on his face as he strode out. "Smell you later!"

Everyone watched him go out and Leaf waved his back goodbye.

"Ah~ And there goes the prime example of idiotic male pride..." Leaf mumbled quietly. "Eh, but what do I know about boys? Ha!"

"What was that, Leaf?"

"Nothing~"

xxxxxxxxxx

Once she got outside the lab, Leaf took a deep breath of Pallet Town's fresh air. "Hoo, yeah! Route 1, here we come!"

She was feeling restless but she took the time to watch her newly nicknamed Charmander who stood beside her, eyes shining as he took in the surroundings. "Oh yeah, Ragnarok, you haven't been outside the lab." she commented.

He nodded.

Leaf smiled and patted his small head. "You're still a baby now, but soon you'll be learning and seeing so many new things, becoming wiser and stronger, so much so that people and pokémon alike will begin to fear your very name!" she announced, ending with a dramatic tone.

It had the desired effect as Ragnarok began to look inspired. "Charmander, char!" he cried out.

"Yes! That's the spirit!" Leaf purposely swung her arm up to point in the far distance. "Today we conquer Route 1 of the Kanto Region, but sometime in the near future, we will conquer the world! Ohohoho!" she laughed, making a perfect imitation of _Green_ from '_Pokémon Adventures__'_.

Red came out of the lab just in time to hear the end of Leaf's speech and he had to wonder if the girl was right in the head.

* * *

**A/N: **Our heroine makes it to the Pokémon World safely, blending in with her new body. Probably sounds creepy on hindsight but please try not to let that bother you.

I've reset my FireRed game for the purpose of this fic, trying to keep some of the dialogue the same and to have actual (as actual as you can get) pokémon to base these on on. Although, I've kept things the same, this fic is supposed to emphasise how this is a new _reality_ for Leaf so I'll have to rely on the anime or the manga for the little details and battle scenes.

I know there's the whole debate about what the rival's name is, whether it be Blue, Green or Gary. I've called him all three, and I don't mind whatever he's called, but for the sake of this fic, he's called Blue. Mostly because I initially wanted to mess up the proper order and let the three children have pokémon that _do not _correspond to their names but later realised that it wouldn't work in-game cuz he chooses a Squirtle when I choose Charmander. Stupid mistake, I know, but I stuck with 'Blue' anyway.

As an extra bit for you guys to read, I'll be noting all the interesting things that happen in-game at the end of every chapter. At least, I think they're interesting. So...

-Blue's Squirtle did not score a critical, in fact, he missed a Tackle once and Ragnarok was the one who got a critical at the end to finish him off. Lucky! But I changed that battle, like I will with others, because in-game you can't inflict a burn with Charmander's tail. I figured, why not? It should make sense in real life anyway. Squirtle did successfully use Tail Whip first though, and it did worry me a bit as I spammed Scratch. That old tactic never let me down.


	3. Ch2: Colour Coordination

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 2**

**Colour Coordination**

* * *

"Raggie, Ember!"

Leaf was blasting through Route 1, with her Ragnarok (shortened to Raggie, Raggers, Rocky, whatever tickled her fancy at the time), trying to make it to Viridian City as soon as possible. Though, she did not _literally_ blast through the grass and road, as much as that sounded cool in Leaf's head. The Charmander didn't have enough power yet. _Maybe someday, _she chuckled to herself.

Ragnarok had learned Ember, shortly after defeating a wild Pidgey, although Leaf lamented her lack of pokéballs to catch the bird. Very much lamented it. It was a super handsome bird, in her opinion.

They were battling a Rattata, toasting the pokémon first and then Leaf, with much _lament_, ordered a Scratch to knock it out. It was in perfect health to be captured! If only she had pokéballs!

Nevertheless, Ragnarok kept growing a little stronger with every victory, and she wondered if pokémon here had levels too. In _'__Pokémon Adventures__'_, you could check levels with your Pokédex but alas, Leaf didn't have one yet. Not until she delivered the parcel, that Oak had forgotten to mention to the other two kids. But Leaf played _FireRed _enough times to remember.

Leaf was surprised that she didn't meet with Red or Blue on the way. Blue had run straight ahead to Viridian to train harder and Red had stayed behind to say his goodbyes. Neither of them knew that they would have to come back so soon for the Pokédex.

Within a few hours, Leaf made it to Viridian City, but then had to make a beeline for the red roof of the Pokémon Center. Ragnarok had gotten so tired that he went back in the pokéball by himself, so Leaf wanted him to recover as soon as possible. There would be lots of time to explore later.

After the automatic glass doors let her in, Leaf pounced on the empty front desk. "Excuse me! Is someone here?" she called out, not entirely sure what to expect.

"Ah yes, coming!" The voice came from an open door at the back, what Leaf assumed to be a staffroom. All in all, the centre seemed pretty deserted.

Leaf wasn't kept waiting long as a Nurse Joy bounded over with the strong scent of coffee following her, reminding Leaf's stomach that it needed to be fed soon. Nurse Joy gave a friendly smile. "Welcome to our Pokémon Centre! How can I help you?"

Leaf took out Ragnarok's pokéball. "Can you heal my Charmander, please?"

"Okay, just put your pokémon in this hole here, and I'll start the healing machine..." Leaf did as she was told, noticing that there were six pokéball shaped slots for a full party of pokémon. She stood back as she watched wide-eyed at the machine as it glowed with energy for a few seconds before dissipating. Nurse Joy smiled at her from the computer. "And that's it, we've restored your pokémon to full health!"

Leaf numbly took back Ragnarok's pokéball. The technology in the pokémon world still amazed her, even after seeing a pokéball in use. She wondered just what were the limits of the technology in this world.

Nurse Joy gave her a curious look. "Are you, perhaps, one of the children starting on a journey today from Pallet Town?"

"Hm?" The question snapped Leaf out from her daze. "Oh, yes. How did you know?"

The pink haired woman smiled knowingly. "I had a message from Professor Oak to expect you."

"Oh, it's nice to know that the old nut still cared to remember, haha!" Leaf laughed, evidently bearing a slight grudge to the professor from their first meeting.

"Well, he asked me to help you register for the Pokémon League if you wanted to enter."

"The Pokémon League?" Leaf chatotted.

"Oh, you don't know what it is? Well, it's a challenge for pokémon trainers..." Leaf was half in and half out of Joy's explanation because her initial question wasn't _what_ the Pokémon League is, like Nurse Joy assumed it was, or rather it was _what_ she was going to do about it.

She knew that Red and Blue were going for the Pokémon League because they aimed to be the best pokémon trainer or '_Pokémon Master__'_, as some would say. But that idea didn't appeal to Leaf. All she wanted to do was travel the world with her beloved pokémon and make as many pokémon friends as she could. She didn't want anything more.

Plus, it would mean competing with Red _at his prime_ and, somehow, stealing way his title as Champion sounded wrong to Leaf. _Blue's good too, in his own right, but... well, he's Blue. Self-explanatory._

"So, would you like to apply for the Pokémon League?"

"Hm..." When it came down to it though, the answer was glaringly obvious to her. "Yes, please!" A pokémon journey wasn't quite complete without challenging all the gyms in the region, after all.

"Okay, if you would let me borrow your Trainer Card..." Leaf rummaged in her bag for her card and handed it over. Joy put the card under the scanner and typed on the keyboard. After a few moments, a 'ping' sound was heard from the computer.

"Here, thank you for waiting." Joy said, giving Leaf her Trainer Card back. "You've now been registered in the Pokémon League, Leaf Green."

Leaf grinned. "Thank you!"

"Now, for your badge case..." Joy muttered, ducking under the desk looking for it.

"Chansey!" As if psychic and able to sense Joy's problem, a Chansey popped out from the corridor with a tray of three flat rectangular objects.

"There they are!" Joy exclaimed. "Thank you Chansey!"

"Chansey, chance!"

"Wow..." Now Chansey were super, _super_ elusive pokémon and Leaf figured that not even praying to Arceus would earn her a Chansey in the Safari (because 'God' in the other world had _long_ forsaken her in the game) so she had silently accepted that she would never be able get one in this world.

But that didn't stop her from admiring this motherly pink ball with a nurse's hat atop its head. Chansey was only a head shorter than Leaf and easily the biggest pokémon she had seen so far, and would only get bigger if it evolved. Which made her wonder...

Leaf suddenly shook her head wildly. _Nuh-uh, wrong time for that. __For n__ow, I should focus on what's in front of me._

"We apologise for the lack of variety, but these cases are all we have available." Nurse Joy gestured to the Chansey's tray where there was three differently coloured badge cases, paying no attention to Leaf's odd behaviour. Perhaps she was used to dealing with nutcases. "Which would you like? Red, blue or green?"

"Hah..." Leaf let out a breath of astonishment. "How convenient." Three colours to represent three kids named after colours. Three starter types, fire, water and grass. Red, Blue and Green. She had chosen to name herself 'Leaf' because that name was what she was used to associating with this character, but Arceus was sneakier than she thought. Making Green her surname. The colours will haunt her forever, whether she liked it or not, telling her in a mantra: _match them, match them, match them_.

"Bleh! Screw fate! I'm picking blue!" Leaf declared, hastily swiping up the blue case from the tray.

"Did someone call?"

Leaf span round to see Blue, the person himself, emerge from the entrance, sneering condescendingly at Leaf when he recognised her. "Oh it's _you_." he spat distastefully.

Despite the unwelcoming vibes she was receiving from Blue, Leaf grinned cheerfully at him. "It's nice to see you again, Blue! Oh, but no, I wasn't calling _you_. I was talking about..." She brandished her case in the air, in a way that would have made even _Ash Ketchum_ proud. "My shiny new _blue _badge case of course!"

After saying that, Leaf's arm shriveled back. "Damn, it doesn't feel quite as cool when its empty..." she mumbled, pouting at the eight empty indents in the case.

Nevertheless, Blue stood with his mouth agape. "What?! _You're_ entering the League?"

"Well, yeah, s'pose so. What about it?" Leaf asked, absently twirling a lock of her hair. She gave him a look, and smothered a laugh. "I beat _you _at least, so who are you to talk?"

Blue looked close to a temper tantrum as he stomped over the Chansey with the tray and snatched the green badge case. Nobody looked down on Blue Oak without paying the price. "Mark my words, I will defeat you! From now on we are rivals!" Blue claimed, shoving a finger right up Leaf's face.

Leaf chuckled. "Such a kid." She calmly batted his hand away and held it in front of them. "Sure thing. Why don't we shake on it?"

They shook hands, both kids wearing smirks on their faces, Blue's of confidence and Leaf's of amusement.

When they let go, Leaf backed off. "Righty-ho, I've things to do now~ Thanks, Nurse Joy!" she winked at the nurse, who gently smiled back.

"And Blue, _oh rival of mine_," Her tone was sarcastic but Leaf faced him seriously, making Blue frown at the sudden flip in the girl's personality. "If I were you, I would register for that case as soon as possible or else I would be accused of stealing! Ohohoho!"

Leaf skipped away happily, leaving Blue behind to flush in indignation and hurriedly demand Nurse Joy for the application form.

Once she was outside, she took out Ragnarok's pokéball to talk to him. "Y'know, between you and me, I think he was just upset because I ruined his colour coordination plan. Who knew Blue was so sentimental!"

* * *

**A/N: **In which Leaf laments a lot for pokéballs, pisses off Blue and the author gets annoyed by red squiggly lines. Centre and center! Colour and color! They're both the same thing!

Well, I managed to slip in my desire to mess up the colours, with badge cases. Heh, that's right! Screw fate!

Don't worry guys, Leaf isn't stealing Red's destined rival, even though she got the honor of Blue's first battle. Stuff will happen later. Stuff with Red.

In FireRed:

-I'm careful so I kept awkwardly popping in and out of the house, saying: "Hi, Mom! Thanks for healing! Bye, Mom!" Kind of wish that the mother says more though.

-There were people in the Pokémon Center but I omitted them out in the story, because I don't imagine that Viridian City would get many visitors. Giovanni's gym is closed and I doubt many NPCs would make it that far in badge collecting. There's also the League, but again with the badge collecting.

Also, I'm an idiot. Forgot to put the character tags. They're up now!


	4. Ch3: Sidetracked

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 3 (Filler chapter, skip it if you want)**

**Sidetracked**

* * *

"Yoohoo! School still open?"

Leaf's rude greeting turned heads, although there were only two heads to turn. One of a student and one of a teacher. _If this is all there is, then this is the saddest school I have ever seen. And that's saying something._

Despite that, the young teacher seemed energetic, eyes sparkling as she bounded over to clasp Leaf's hands. "Hello there! Class is over now, but anyone is welcome to come and learn more! C'mon, learn!"

"Eh? 'Kay then." Leaf let herself be dragged in front of the blackboard. The one student continued in her work.

The teacher held up her teachy pointy stick, and slapped it against the board. "These are the essentials for any up and coming trainer to learn! Go ahead and memorise them!"

Leaf squinted at the board. It listed the status effects and effects of them. "Oh, these. I know 'em already. Don't you have anything more... I dunno, taxing?"

The teacher eyed her sceptically. "Something more taxing? But I don't know your limits... Shall we find out with a test? If you pass, I'll give you a prize."

"Ooh! Yes please!" Leaf didn't like tests at school, but this was different. It wasn't everyday day that you get tested for pokémon knowledge instead of boring maths formulas and atomic numbers, _and_ get credit for them. _Wish I went to school here!_

Leaf took a desk next to the studious student, who was still engrossed in her work, with a pen and paper. The teacher rubbed contents of the board off, preventing Leaf from cheating. "Are you ready?"

"Yup!"

"Okay, you have forty minutes. Start!"

The dimensional hopper got to business._Let's see... Write down three pokémon moves that can cause paralysis. Huh? Not too bad for a test. Thunder __W__ave is obvious. Body __S__lam is a possibility... __Might as well add in Glare, just to show off..._

_Next is... Which berry can cure poisoning? There's a choice of either the Pecha Berry or the Lum Berry... Let's pick the Pecha berry just to be safe. Come to think of it, I hardly ever used berries in favour of using man-made medicines in the games, for convenience. Should I mix it up here?_

Leaf blinked hard. _Getting sidetracked again._

After about half an hour, Leaf stood up noisily, waving her paper up eagerly. "Yo, teach! I'm finished!"

"Hm?" The teacher looked up from her marking. "Oh, can you leave it on my desk for checking. I'll have it done in a couple of minutes."

Leaf skipped over to pop it on top of the teacher's papers. Though, she seemed rather distracted so Leaf went to pester the other girl.

"Hey, whatcha doin'?"

The student's head jerked up in surprise, knocking her glasses askew. She fixed them with a hand and smiled awkwardly. "Ah, I'm, uh, trying to memorise all my notes."

"What are you studying?"

The girl had to wince at the blindingly bright sparkles that the older girl shot off, like gatling guns! They was rolling off her in waves even if she didn't intend to. This was starting to irk the young student, as Leaf was 'discreetly' trying to peek in her book.

"Hey! Don't look at my notes!" yelped the student, as she protectively covered her jotter with her arms. This nosy stranger didn't have to know that she was still studying the basics of basics of being a Pokémon Trainer. It was considered common knowledge at this point and she didn't want anybody laughing at her for being slow.

Leaf put her hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay! Gee, I was just curious." She quickly moved on.

Picking a random book off the shelf, she began to read. _Professor Oak, the Pokémon Researcher! Geh, why do people worship that old nut so much? __So he lives with his grandchildren Daisy and Blue. Huh? Daisy and Blue. A common flower and colour. Odd combo. What were their parents thinking? Blue daisies... I __kinda__ wanna see that!_

"Hey, I've marked your paper."

"Oh!" Leaf shoved the book back and went to face the teacher, who was frowning holes into the paper. "How did I do?"

"Very good! I haven't seen marks like these since that young man, Red, came for a visit. You've gotten all of them correct, except for the last one: '_What move can counter Light Screen or Reflect?'_ Honestly!" The teacher's frown was now directly aimed at Leaf herself, making sure that she knew that she was in for a good teacher's scolding. "You had the right answer: _Brick Break_, but why did you score it out and write _Falcon Punch_?! What is the meaning of this young lady?"

Leaf made a salute. "Nothing, Miss! Absolutely nothing can beat out a FALCOOON PUUNCHUU!"

The teacher massaged her temples. She was always happy to find children with the willingness to learn, but this young lady had _too much_ extra energy. "You have so much potential and brains, but you had to be so eccentric... Here, just take the Rare Candy."

Said young lady just gave her a cheeky grin as she accepted her prize.

* * *

**A/N:** It's a filler chapter but hey, any pokémon fan can appreciate a test of their knowledge. The test was inspired by the test Sapphire took in _'Pokémon Adventures'. _I looked on the internet for more, but they were mostly quizzes on Pokémon as a series, like what year were _Pokémon Red and Blue_ released. No, I didn't do so well on that test... Because I'm a third gen child... Sorry guys. I'm a shame to the pokémon fandom :(

Now I really want a test on in-game knowledge...

In FireRed (I'm just filling space here, really):

-Game!Leaf has a lot of nerve. Seriously, who goes up to a stranger's desk, peeks into the book they're studying and turns the page like its their business?


	5. Ch4: Party

**Disclaimer: Not quite sure if I'd done this yet but all references, which may or may not be obvious, do not belong to me. Like ****_Legend of Zelda_**** below.**

* * *

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 4**

**Party**

* * *

"Hey! You came from Pallet Town?"

Leaf, who had been browsing the snack section to restock her supplies, blinked at the man who called her out. "Yes. Is this about the delivery?"

The PokéMart clerk looked mildly sheepish as he revealed a wrapped box. "Yeah. If you knew about it then you must know Professor Oak. His order came in. Can I get you to take it to him?"

"Yes, yes, yes! All my yes! Finally!" Leaf couldn't hold back from jumping up and down in excitement. Eagerly accepting the parcel, Leaf made a show of lifting it up in the air, posing like _Link_. "DA-DA-DA-DUM!"

"Oookay, thanks." The clerk quirked an eyebrow, but a possible customer was still a possible customer. "Please say hi to Professor Oak for me, too."

"Will do! Also, can I get this and this and this..." She paused. "Wait, where are the pokéballs?"

"Ah, sorry. We just ran out of them."

Leaf shook a fist. "Dammit!"

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hello Red! How was your first day as a Pokémon Trainer?"

Red glanced at the chipper Leaf from his dinner. "...Good." he mumbled, barely audible.

"Gosh, is that all you have to say?" Leaf pouted, placing her mac and cheese on the table and seating herself next to Red. "When you become Champion, you gotta expect to do some socialising, you know."

Surprised that she had such high expectations of him, Red gave Leaf a wide-eyed look.

Leaf blinked at him. "Oh, did I say 'when'? I meant 'if'. But who knows, haha!"

Red made a non-committal hum.

Before she started to sate her already growling stomach, she had to consider her partner first. "Raggie, it's time to eat!"

Ragnarok materialised inside the Pokémon Center cafeteria and watched eagerly as his trainer popped open a can of food. She filled a bowl and set it down for the ravenous Charmander, who began eating without any reserves. Then she tucked into her own food.

The mac and cheese was pretty good, in Leaf's opinion, and she wondered if it was because of the Miltank._ Their milk is better than our cows' milk? But Miltank is a second gen pokémon... So this cheese is imported from Johto? That wouldn't make it very local..._

Between thoughtful chewing, she pondered about the boy beside her. "Hey, how about your Bulbasaur? Has he eaten?" she asked, idly waving her fork dripping with thick cheese sauce.

Red smiled knowingly. "No, but he stores energy in his bulb from the sun and can go on for a long time without food."

"Ah, that's true..." Leaf had to be impressed by his knowledge, without the use of a Pokédex. But surprised, she was not. Red was a legend for a reason and it was doubtless that he did his research on the starter pokémon beforehand.

"I suppose that's why Bulbasaur is considered easy to raise." She took a glance at her pokémon and his burning tail. It was bewitching as fire always was. Beautiful but deadly to the touch. "In contrast, Charmander is considered hard..."

"You'd have to be careful in the rain." Red advised but made no elaboration on it.

He didn't need to because Leaf remembered about what happened to Ash's Charmander (now Charizard) when he almost died. Twice, in fact. There were also obedience problems when he evolved. _Nope, definitely won't happen to Raggie. _She convinced herself, stroking her's pokémon's head.

To fill the silence blooming between the two of them, Leaf moved onto a new topic, though she was speaking through her fork. "So, did you receive a message from Professor Oak?"

Red raised a brow and took out his badge case questioningly. It was red. "No, not about the League. Silly old nut must have forgot." Leaf giggled. "Anyway, he told us that we need to go back to the lab for something."

The boy seemed a little surprised and, from slight twitch of his lips, disappointed. Leaf expressed his thoughts verbally. "I know right? What's the big idea, delaying our adventure so soon after we've started? It'd better be worth it. Or I'll mangle him to a bloody messy pulp for the both of us."

Taken aback from her last remark, Red almost choked on his food. His painful coughs prompted Leaf to pat his back helpfully, although now he wasn't sure about how he felt about her 'kind' gesture.

"Did you take my words literally? Really now, that was meant as a joke. Mostly." She gave him an 'innocent' smile. "But, you could say that I'm a very vengeful person."

Red smiled back weakly and began thinking that, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to be associated with this person.

xxxxxxxxxx

"The awesome trio is off to Pallet Town!"

"Oi, who's grouping with _you_? This is temporary!"

Leaf grinned at the two boys behind her. After a good night sleep, choking Blue by the collar as he was leaving the Pokémon Center and dragging Red with her, she _convinced _them to travel together, at least back to Pallet. She said that they were going back to the same place for the same thing so was it just more convenient if they all went together. They couldn't exactly argue with her logic, and so they set off together that morning.

"Until, we get to the lab, we're still an awesome trio. Or are you denying that you're awesome, Blue? You want off the team? Cause Red and I are plenty enough awesome. Right Red?" Leaf amicably slung an arm across the boy's shoulder.

He carefully took the intruding arm off. "... I'm not getting involved in this argument."

The other boy scoffed. "I don't need you dorks to be awesome. I'm five times better than the two of you put together!"

Leaf shrugged, unconvinced. "You keep telling yourself that, if it helps you sleep at night."

Blue crossed his arms and adamantly watched his Squirtle. "Feh!"

All three of their starter pokémon were leading the so-called 'awesome trio'. They seemed to be having merry conversations with each other in their own language, in contrast to their conflicting trainers. However, when the group reached the long grass, the little pokémon separated and focused on keeping a keen eye out.

Seeing the pokémon become so instinctively protective of their trainers made Leaf's heart warm up. _This is the best thing that's happened to me since I got a GameBoy Advanced!_

Even seeing another fine Pidgey slip out of her grasp because of her lack of pokéballs, couldn't ruin her mood.

"Hey, would you quit humming that tune? It's getting annoying." The one who had spoken was, of course, the ever cranky Blue.

"Huh?" In her high spirits, she hadn't noticed that she had subconsciously started humming _Road to Viridian City, From Pallet Town. _"Ooh, right. Sorry, couldn't help it. But you can't say that it's not suitable for the occasion! It fits perfectly, wouldn't you agree?"

"Ugh, no." Actually, Blue had internally agreed but would rather eat his necklace than admit it to his hated 'rival'.

Red gave a slow nod. He was thinking along the same lines as Leaf.

Leaf took it as a signal to continue and went on to sing and clap. Her loyal Ragnarok had enthusiastically joined in although with clumsier notes.

Their childish merrymaking had spread to the other starters, Bulbasaur clapping with his vines and Squirtle blowing colourful bubbles, adding to the festive aura. They had even attracted wild pokémon, curious Rattata peeping through grass and the local Pidgey had started chirping to the tune.

Red had joined in at some point, but only partaking in the clapping.

Blue trailed behind, face in his hands and trying to look unrelated to the crazy bunch. "Great, now we've turned into a mini musical."

Leaf laughed. "Now, this is a party!"

No other pokémon bothered them for a battle, feeling like they might be disrupting something sacred.

xxxxxxxxxx

When the lab came within sight, Blue raced towards it like Giratina was on his tail.

He burst in. "Gramps! What did you call me for?!" He asked, almost desperately.

Not long after, Leaf and Red followed him. "Hey, now what's the rush? The Professor needs his parcel and I have it." Leaf said, waving a brown wrapped box.

Oak peered over his grandson to see what Leaf had. "What's that? You have something for me?"

She obediently handed it over, having resisted the urge to open it the whole trip. Oak went to the back of his lab to tear it apart. "Ah! It's the custom pokéball! I had it on order. Thank you!"

"Y-you're welcome." Leaf forced out, fingers twitching madly. Her prize was so, _so _near. "By the way, the clerk says hi."

"Well, 'hi' to him too!"

The lab had fallen into an awkward silence, with Oak smiling gratefully and the kids staring at him expectantly. It got so awkward that Leaf started studying the lines on the floor. _I wonder if pokémon live under the floors? Bugs? Spiders? Ah, they're Spinarak here, aren't they? They can be as big as Ariados, too. That'd be terrifying, just look at what Dawn had to experience in her first episode. But they live in Johto... But that's practically next door, isn't it? What if-_

Blue, who was starting to develop a tic on his temple, broke the ice. "So... Gramps? What is it you wanted?" Leaf and Red bobbed their heads up and down in favour of the question.

Oak's eyes lit up in realisation. "Oh, right! I have a request for you three." He scurried over to a desk. "Here is my invention, the Pokédex!" he sermonised, sounding mighty proud of himself. "It automatically records data on pokémon that you've seen or caught. It's a high-tech encyclopedia!"

He picked up two red rectangular objects that quite resembled a certain portable game console to Leaf. She had a wide grin on her face as she knew exactly what was coming next. Red and Blue looked on curiously.

"Red, Leaf and Blue. Take these with you." Oak gave one first to Red, who hesitantly accepted it and then he gave one to the antsy Leaf.

Blue was last to receive the pokédex, but he was already shaking with agitation. Oak continued his explanation. "You can't get detailed data on pokémon by just seeing them. You must catch them to obtain complete data. So, here are some tools for catching wild pokémon."

And here he handed Red and Leaf five pokéballs each from the parcel. Red seemed grateful as he accepted the gift. Leaf, however, made a high-pitched girlish squeal and stared starry-eyed at the beautiful rubies of pokémon capturing. She immediately crammed them in her pockets and zoomed out of the lab.

"Fill up the Pokédex in your place right? Got it covered, Professor!" she yelled behind her.

The males watched her go with astonishment. Blue snapped out of his stupor first. "AH! She got a head start! This was her plan all along! I'll never forgive her!"

Oak put his face in his hands. "Kids these days..."

Blue appeared ready to run after Leaf but his grandfather caught him before he did. "Blue, I still have your pokéballs."

His grandfather's words seemed to sedate Blue a little. "Feh." He shoved his hands in his pockets and took a side glance at Red. He seemed eager to listen to the Professor right until the end. "Suck up." Blue murmured.

While Leaf had gone adventuring already, Blue could still antagonise Red. The thought cheered him up, even if it was just a smidgen.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, sis! Gimme a map!"

Daisy looked up from her tea. "Oh, hello there Blue. Sure thing, just wait a sec."

She calmly strolled over to a shelf and took out a town map. "Here." she said, handing it to her little brother. "Can't you stay for some tea-"

But Blue was already gone. "Don't give one to Red, okay!"

The young woman sighed. "First it was an energetic girl who I never met and now it's Blue, huh?"

Daisy dug out another map, deciding to ignore her brother's rude request, and hoping that Red wouldn't run off so quickly. Perhaps, _he_ could stay to have a cup of tea.

* * *

**A/N:** In which Leaf finally gets her coveted pokéballs and the plot finally gets a chance to move on. Probably the reason why I'm not getting any reviews. I'd continue the story even if I don't get any, but it would be nice to see how I'm getting along, or what I'm doing wrong here...

I'd imagine Daisy gets a little lonely at times, with her brother shooting off all the time and her grandfather busy with his work...

I'm fairly aware that Leaf seems kind of Mary Sue. I promise that she'll get kicked off her high horse – I mean, Rapidash – at some point, but not yet. There are plans... Muahaha!

**Edit: **I used to give you guys guidance for the episodes Leaf tends to refer to but, out of plain laziness, I shall let you guys do the research yourselves if you don't know what she's talking about. I'm just a jerk like that XP

In FireRed:

-Sniff, that poor lonely Bulbasaur. He didn't get picked... Can I not take him off your hands, Professor? No? Not even for completing the Pokédex like you wanted me to do? No? Gee, currently-non-existent Red! Hurry up and take the Bulbasaur! (Wouldn't it be nice if Red/Blue/Green got _another_ re-make and you could have Red/Leaf as your rival? Then the third pokémon can finally see the light of day!)

Next Chapter! Red verses Blue!


	6. Ch5: Cheering Squad

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 5**

**Cheering Squad**

* * *

"HOW?! How does someone make it to Viridian City without catching a single Pidgey?!"

Leaf raged outside the Pokémon Center, kicking at the dirt and glaring holes in the earth. She had been looking forward to getting the first pokémon that she had ever laid her eyes on and, what she thought, was the first form of the most beautiful bird line.

It was glorious, her imagination. She had a name ready and a move set and _everything_. They were going to be best buddies and she was going to have so much _fun_ with her trusty flyer.

"_Where shall we go today, Bird Jesus?"_

"_Pidgeot!"_

"_You're right! Let's go to Hoenn! I feel like going to the hot springs!"_

"_Pidgeot!"_

"_Let's go! Whee!"_

Things did not go to plan.

She did see one Pidgey and an unfortunate miscalculation caused the little guy to faint from a single Ember from Ragnarok, thus rendering him unable to be captured, as Leaf found out. Gritting her teeth, she moved on, relying on the fact that she would encounter one later.

But no more brave Pidgey threw themselves in her path... And there was no time to backtrack...

"Char?" The young Ragnarok pulled lightly on his trainer's skirt, oblivious to the inner-goings of her mind.

Leaf took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay. You're right, Raggers." she said, patting his head and pretending that her pokémon knew exactly what she was troubled by. "It's still early days. There are plenty of Pidgey in other routes. We just have to let this one go."

She smiled at the pokéball in her hand. "At least we have Roberto."

Roberto, the Rattata. He was caught not long after the Pidgey failure and was the saving grace of the trip. She had nicknamed him Roberto because: _"He's totally a gentleman!"_ Leaf lovingly caressed the red casing of his pokéball. "You're going to be a great team mate aren't you!" she cooed.

Ragnarok relaxed, seeing her cheer up. Being confined in the lab for most of his life, he never had the chance to meet many people so he never noticed just how out-of-the-ordinary his trainer was. But, she was affectionate to him (that was never a bad thing in his book) and he was grateful that she picked him. Their bond was building to be strong but not yet unbreakable.

What Ragnarok did know for sure was that he liked seeing his trainer happy and he was willing to do whatever it takes to keep it that way.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hey! Red!"

The red capped boy lifted his head to see Blue approaching him in front, grinning like he accomplished something already. Red nodded to him in greeting.

"You're off to the Pokémon League? Forget about it!"

Red frowned at his former friend's sneer. He was only on Route 22 to check out the area. He hadn't known that the League was just ahead, nor did he intend to go in (yet). He opened his mouth to explain but Blue rudely cut him off.

"You probably don't have any badges, do you? The guard won't let you through without them. By the way," Here, Blue's face contorted into a nasty grin of evil. One that was good for a twelve-year old, anyway. "I owed you a battle, didn't I?"

With those magical words, the two boys got to their battle positions and simultaneously sent out their pokémon. "Go, Pidgey!" "Go, Bulbasaur!"

Bird and bulb pokémon eyed each other carefully on the field while their trainers got to an intense stare-down, daring the other to make the first move.

"Whoo! GO, RED! Boo! Blue, you suck!"

Red abruptly turned to the direction of the voice, along with Blue, to see Leaf poking her head out of the long grass with her hands curled around her mouth to project her voice. "When did you-" Blue garbled and then recovered by shaking a fist at the girl. "Ugh, why don't you just shut up, go away and mind your own business?" He would have preferred a personal cheering squad any day than a persistent Leaf grating on his nerves in his important battle.

Leaf clutched at her heart in mock hurt. "Oof, that hit me right here. Can I not watch, at least?" Blue snarled at her while Red didn't seem to mind either way. Still, a first battle was a first battle. It had to be as epic as possible. Leaf pouted. "Fine, I get it, I'm unwelcome here. Well, I'm gonna get me a Spearow. Laters, suckas!"

With that, the girl literally dived back in the long grass.

The young trainers shook their heads off the strange girl and faced each other. Somehow, the tense air dissipated when Leaf made her appearance so Blue was free to taunt Red to his heart's content. "Heh, you don't know the basics of pokémon battling do you? Pidgey has the advantage over your Bulbasaur. It's not too late to change, y'know?"

Red shrugged. "I only have Bulbasaur."

Blue scoffed and flipped his hair. "Well, it's not my fault if you weep. Pidgey, use Gust!"

The bird needed no other prompt. He flew up and flapped his wings fast enough to conjure a strong gale, trying to throw off the bulb pokémon's balance.

"Hang in there, Bulbasaur!" Red shouted, guarding himself with an arm from the stray winds of Gust.

Bulbasaur tried his best to hold his ground, digging his limbs into the earth and patiently waiting out the bird. He stayed put, even when the winds were kicking up small debris and pelting them at him, making several cuts and bruises on his green skin.

Eventually, Pidgey had to cease flapping to rest his tired wings and his flight began to falter. Red snatched up the opportunity. "Now! Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!"

"Bulba!" His vines snapped up to wrap around the Pidgey, constricting his wings, and the bird had no energy to avoid it. No longer able to fly, Pidgey began to drop like a missile.

As Pidgey seemed to recover and struggle in mid-air, Red made a quick order. "Bring him down and Tackle!"

Bulbasaur made sure to slam Pidgey against the ground for extra damage and by the time he was starting pick himself up, Bulbasaur had charged and tackled him. With a pained cry, Pidgey fainted.

Blue recalled his Pidgey with a huff of annoyance. "Tch, that pokémon was new anyway. The real battle starts now! Go, Squirtle!"

The turtle pokémon materialised with a happy dance. "Squirtle, squirt!" He greeted his lab friend across the field.

Blue groaned at his pokémon's antics. "Squirtle! We're in a battle!"

"Squirt?" He stared to and fro between his trainer, the other human and his pokémon pal. "Squirt!" It clicked at last and Squirtle fell into his battle stance.

"Tackle!"

"Vine Whip!"

Needless to say, Tackle had no chance against Vine Whip as Bulbasaur had reach and the type advantage. And as inexperienced Squirtle was, his pain tolerance was low and he was cringing each time the vines whipped near. Unable to make any progress, he was forced to take all the hits straight on.

"What are you doing, Squirtle?! Tackle already!" his trainer scolded.

"Squir... tle..." With a final lash from Bulbasaur, Squirtle fainted.

Blue stared at his unconscious Squirtle, flabbergasted. "Wha... Ugh!" He grit his teeth and was faced with the challenge of having to accept that he lost. What else could Blue do than scramble his way out? "You just lucked out! There's no way I lost twice in a row!"

Red knelt down to spray a potion on his Bulbasaur, sending a look of sympathy to Blue and Bulbasaur mirrored his trainer. His rival was unable to tolerate being pitied on and started to storm off, bitterly tossing the pokédollars on the ground beside Red.

"I heard the Pokémon League has many tough trainers! I have to figure out how to get past them!" Blue said, trying to sound busy and repeatedly averting his eyes. "You should quit dawdling and get a move on!"

He sauntered off, flicking a hand farewell as Red simply blinked and shrugged.

"AHA! Gotcha, Spearow!" Leaf popped out of the grass, in a jack-in-a-box fashion, proudly thrusting up a pokéball.

This was while Blue was making his way through the long grass and, having forgotten her presence, he was very much startled when she jumped up next to him, almost giving him an uppercut to the chin.

"WAH!" he shrieked as he recoiled back and fell on his backside. So much for making a cool exit.

Leaf gave Blue a short glance but went back to being engrossed by her Spearow. She took out her Pokédex. "Hm... a female, huh? I think I shall call you... Joanne!"

Blue felt like running off in tears.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Okey-dokey! Grinding time!"

Leaf released all her pokémon at once, revealing a Rattata, who stared at his trainer curiously, a Mankey, who started running off for the hills, a Spearow, who flitted around in rapid circles in the air, and, of course, a Charmander, who dutifully chased and grabbed the Mankey to prevent movement.

"Holy flying Magikarps, one at a time then!" She recalled the struggling Mankey first, relieving Ragnarok of his burden and then Joanne before she flew too far away, leaving Roberto to blink with a Charmander for company.

Leaf exhaled. "Phooey! This will take a while."

It was a new day when she decided to train her new pokémon on Route 22, before setting off to Viridian Forest.

It sounded like a good idea at first, sending them all out and letting them get experience at the same time. Leaf thought that breaking the normal rules of the game would be badass and that she could handle it. It was seem that it was far too chaotic for her after all, especially so with newly caught pokémon.

Roberto seemed to be chill with hanging back beside his trainer and watching Ragnarok fight with the wild pokémon, but Leaf wondered how that would help at all. In the game, she would send out weaker pokémon first and then finish them off with her stronger pokémon. She figured that if Roberto was simply present for the battle, it would have the same effect. However, there were differences between Ragnarok and Roberto in terms of body shape and battle style so what benefit did watching Ragnarok give Roberto?

While levels and experience did exist, as Leaf found out through her shiny new Pokédex, there was no explanation for them. Wild pokémon could watch battles all the time so was there any difference to what they were doing now? Surely you should gain experience by battling first-hand? How else would you strengthen your muscles and reaction time?

"Only one thing for it then! Roberto, use Scratch! Ragnarok, continue with your Ember!"

The poor wild Rattata stood no chance against two ferocious pokémon ganging up on him. How he wished that he didn't attack the girl assuming that she was an easy sucker.

* * *

**A/N: **In which Red and Blue manage to renew their rivalry, Leaf captures some pokémon and starts some hardcore training. Also, the author has too much fun teasing Blue. XD

Upon re-reading the manga for inspiration, cuz I'm not the best at battle scenes, I noticed that Red's early nickname for Oak was 'old nut', the same as Leaf here. I did not plan that, I swear. I'm keeping it though, cuz it has stuck to me like an adamant Ditto. And so has the title of this fic. Hm, maybe it won't change...

In FireRed:

-Roberto is calm, Joanne is naïve and the Mankey is bold. Only time will tell who will be staying on the league team though...

-Joanne took a while to catch. And I wanted a male so I could name him Lupin. So when I got a female first, I thought I might as well name her after the next best phantom thief, albeit with a few letters altered. Anyone know I who I'm talking about?

-Of course, Game!Leaf battled Blue and I pitted my Spearow against his Pidgey. Joanne won (naturally) and then I sent out Ragnarok for Squirtle. I had expected Blue to use Bubble, but he used Tackle. The A.I. system disappoints me :( And I was all prepared to sing _Gary Oak _by _NateWantsToBattle _with a few of the lyrics changed:

_Wish I knew he'd use Bubble when I sent in~_

_When I sent my Charmander~_

…

_Oak~ Oak~ Bluey~ Bluey~ Bluey~_

Okay, that's enough, haha. Seriously guys, if you haven't heard it before, you should look it up on YouTube. It's the funniest song ever!

New cover image for the fic because my profile one was too romantic and misleading. I made it myself with watercolour and pencils because I didn't want to trouble anyone with a request or deal with copyright. While it could be better (that hat's wonky, I think) I'm happy with it for now.

Also special thanks to my first reviewers, GokuaVirgil and Gabyy3! You guys made me jump around like a Buneary on sugar high when I saw those reviews! Of course, thank you readers too!


	7. Ch6: YOLO

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 6**

**YOLO**

* * *

"Spearow! Spear!"

"Come back down, Joanne!" Try as she might to pacify the bird, Leaf couldn't get her to stay still so she could get in the pokéball. Even Joanne's energy made Leaf's usual enthusiasm fall to tamer levels.

Aiming the red beam at the hyperactive bird was futile. She flew quickly and darted about in sporadic directions, making Leaf's head hurt when she watched for too long.

The Spearow was the last to be trained, or that was how Leaf planned it before she got difficult. Not even her Mankey brought as many problems! At least after baiting her with pokémon food, the Mankey proved to be easier to handle. But Joanne didn't seem to be hungry.

Her constant companion watched his trainer struggle with their new 'ally'. Like he has done numerous times, even before meeting Leaf, he wished that he had wings. At least, if he had them, he could be of use to Leaf and catch Joanne.

After one last shot with the beam and missing, Leaf got fed up. "Fine then! Stay outside the ball!" She yelled, glaring at the bird who simply continued to fly. "Let's go, Raggie!"

Ragnarok trotted after his stomping trainer, taking a glance up at Joanne once in a while, longing to be able to enjoy the same experience. The refreshing wind breezing past your face, big strong wings holding you up and vast blue skies ready for exploring... The Charmander fell into dreamland.

Despite rebelling against her trainer, Joanne wasn't willing to be left behind. The other Spearow in her previous flock never stayed too long in her company, and she never knew why. This girl was actively trying to interact with her, which was unfamiliar for Joanne, and she had to wonder for her reasons. Not for long, though, because her mind constantly told her that she must take to the air and FLY! as if it was her duty. Ignoring these voices had bad consequences, she knew.

So to satisfy her demanding needs and to stick with the mysterious girl, she soared not too far above the girl's head, watching on curiously.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Okay, Ragnarok." Leaf put on her metaphorical serious glasses on. Ragnarok blinked the illusion out. "We want to make it to Pewter City before dark, or else we have to camp out in the forest. And there's an old man in the way. He'll stall us by a couple of essential minutes. We DO NOT want that. So we're going have to Shedinja our way past him. But this is a solo mission so you'll have to go back in your pokéball for a moment. That okay?"

Ragnarok nodded dimly. He didn't quite understand some of the words she was using but he got that she needed to be alone for a while. Well, anything for his trainer.

Leaf grinned and recalled him. "Good boy."

She turned to face her enemy, sipping on his coffee on the bench. She had a hunch that he was that teachy tv dude, who would no doubt try to teach her to catch a pokémon, although she clearly had more than one clipped to her belt. She had no intention of stopping to listen. _Naw, that__'__s Red's job._

Leaf took a deep breath and exhaled. "Operation Make-like-a-Shedinja is a-go!" she whispered, excited despite herself.

She bent on her knees and crawled underneath the sight of the old man in bliss from his coffee. His daughter sitting next to him, eyed the younger girl oddly and had urges to simply point out how conspicuous she looked, but in the end made no comment.

Unfortunately, the old man caught her movements. "Hey, what are you doing here, lassie?"

Leaf jumped to her feet and covered her face with her hands. "I've been discovered! Geh, I knew I should have had a cardboard box! Time to leg it!"

And away she was before any of the bench-sitters could respond.

The old man finished his coffee. "...What did she mean by a cardboard box?"

"No idea."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Here we are! Viridian Forest, home to a ton of adorable Caterpies, annoyingly poisonous Weedles and the infamous Pikachu, if we're lucky."

Ragnarok took a good look around. Big huge trees surrounded them, covering the sky save for a few patches of sunlight, and he had little idea of where the exit might be. In the shadows of the trees, he saw numerous eyes staring and watching. Feeling mildly intimidated by the 'watchers', the little Charmander inched closer to his trainer, who exuded far more confidence in the situation than she probably should.

Joanne flew closer to the two to keep them in sight. Viridian Forest provided very little height for her to fly to her full enjoyment, so she tended to avoid the place. However, if the girl intended to travel through it then...

She spoke like a tourist guide earlier but, really, Leaf had never set foot in a genuine forest before. She had a childishly excited air about her but at the same time, camping out in a forest full of creepy crawlies didn't sound very pretty to her. At least, not so early in the game. That and she had no camping gear, so she had her fingers crossed for a _really_ quick journey to Pewter.

"We ain't got time to waste, let's move along!" she said, bravely setting foot onto the tall grass.

Ragnarok nodded and moved to take front, as always. Joanne flapped after them.

xxxxxxxxxx

Local bug catcher trainers and wild pokémon were merely ants in their path, with Ragnarok's Ember and the fact that Joanne was a species of bird who ate bugs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Her presence alone scared off most of the little mites. That isn't to say that there were exceptions, however, so there were a few (stupidly) brave critters.

This was not a bad thing for Leaf, in fact, she had been waiting for a chance to capture some bugs. Generally, bug types were avoided for party members because of their low stats in general, with a few 'good' pokémon like Scizor and Heracross. But even the most common of bugs held a note of nostalgia for Leaf. Heck, all of the Kanto pokémon were nostalgic. She had to catch them all to enjoy her adventure to the fullest!

When a Weedle stood up straight in their path, giving them the most intimidating look he could muster in his tiny body, Leaf had to see if she could catch him. "You wanna go at us? Bring it! Raggie, use Scratch!"

"Char!" He leapt forward with his claws unleashed, but sensing his trainer's intentions, his slash was lighter than usual.

Before Ragnarok could hop back, the Weedle struck with a prepared stinger on the end of his tail, dripping heavily with purple fluid. Physically, it hurt Ragnarok very little as it only skimmed his scaly skin, but deep down, the effect was lethal.

Caught up in the moment, Leaf didn't notice this, and promptly threw a pokéball at the Weedle. She impatiently watched it roll side to side. When the click of a successful capture sounded, she pumped her fist boyishly. "Yeah! We have a Weedle!"

Joanne flapped down to take a peek at the red contraption. The transparent plastic revealed a frowning Weedle, not badly hurt but not quite the paragon of health either, but looking like the perfect plump snack. Her mouth watered slightly.

"Hm?" Leaf felt that there was something dreadfully missing by her side. "Ragnarok, what's wrong?"

The Charmander in question was pale as a Frosslass and constantly shivering as he responded with a weak moan. "Char..." He was struggling to keep his legs upright.

"You don't look so good..." She had a small inkling of what but didn't want to believe it, so she took out her pokédex. Her worries were confirmed and she gasped in realisation. "Oh no! You're poisoned!" She ran forward to cuddle her pokémon, in hopes that it would be somewhat comforting. "Hang in there, I'll get you something!" She rummaged in her bag for an antidote, but as she found none, she too paled. "Oh shi- Z-zigzagoon excrements, I forgot. Ah..." Leaf proceeded to smack herself on the forehead, muttering: 'stupid, stupid, stupid'.

A heavy weight landed on her shoulder and she felt soft feathers brush against her cheek, as Joanne roosted to see what was going on with the Charmander, halting Leaf's berating for the moment. With her regained sense, she thought about what to do about the situation. Even in her arms, Ragnarok hadn't stopped shivering and Leaf was feeling it herself in her body. She couldn't watch him suffer any longer and put him back in his pokéball.

Twinges of remorse began trickling in, but she was soon brought back to reality when her shoulder lightened and Joanne flapped upwards again, having seen enough to sate her curiosity. Even if Ragnarok was down, Leaf had to move. Falling behind at this point was a definite no-no.

_It's okay. I still have Roberto, Ida and Joanne... Even if the latter doesn't listen to me... Ida has to be bribed to battle which isn't a good sign of her loyalty... and I cannot tell what Roberto's thinking at all. _Leaf bit her lip apprehensively. "This is bad..."

"Spearow!" Joanne cawed suddenly, and Leaf flicked her head up to see her flapping away in some direction.

"Ah, wait! Don't go!" She ran after her pokémon as she blurred under tree branches and dodging hanging Metapods and Kakunas. Leaf wanted a moment to admire them but with her hyperactive bird unwilling to take a break, she couldn't chance it.

Joanne halted in a clearing, staring intently at something in the centre. Shortly after, her trainer stumbled in with numerous leaves stuck in her hair. "Hey, Joanne! What's with-" Her questioning was cut off as she took a glance what entranced her pokémon so much.

In the centre was a bush. But not just any bush. Not only did it look blessed by Arceus himself, with the lone stream of sunlight from the parted tree branches smiling upon it, it had nice plump berries, swelling ripe with sweet juice! They were soft pink, looking like mini peaches but moreover...

"Are those Pecha berries? Oh, Joanne, you're a good girl after all!" Leaf moved to glomp her Spearow, but the bird lunged forward like a jet before she could, making Leaf plant her face on the ground.

Leaf picked herself up, watching with dead-pan eyes as Joanne began harassing a Caterpie, who had been snacking on the berries. "So you were here for the Caterpie..." She sighed.

"Piee!" With the Caterpie's shriek, Leaf figured she should save the innocent thing from her pokémon's savage beak. "Hey, Joanne, leave the cute lil' Caterpie alone."

However, Joanne wasn't listening as she was thinking of how tasty her prey would be, rather than that not-so-tasty-after-all Weedle that poisoned her fellow pokémon earlier. She opened her beak wide...

Prey wasn't willing to stay prey either. With a glare of outrage, the little bug skilfully spat out a net of sticky string at his attacker. Caught by surprise, Joanne's wings were locked in and she fell to the ground. By now, her 'prey' was starting to look a little daunting.

For the most part, Leaf was blinking in shock. She hadn't expected the Caterpie to have a nasty streak. _Sure, Weedles could be aggressive but a Caterpie!? They were supposed to docile, friendly creatures, weren't they?_

"Piee!" The high-pitched battle cry signalled the start of Caterpie's attack, as he charged for a Tackle at Joanne surprisingly quickly. Bound up like a Christmas present, Joanne could only watch in horror as her former prey head-butted against her repeatedly... Which did hardly any damage at all, but in the long run, she could faint from the pain of her bruises... And the Caterpie would get a sore head as a consequence.

Leaf watched this, a little unsure. _Um, I'm supposed to help, right? _She strolled over and plucked the Caterpie up off the ground, making sure that his mouth was facing away from her. He squealed, spat out some more string and struggled but it was really no trouble to keep a good grip on him. Despite making her pokémon vulnerable and basically sitting duck for punishment, Caterpie was still really weak when it came to direct confrontations.

She gave a stern stare to her rebellious Spearow. "This is what happens when you don't listen to me!" She scolded, waving the Caterpie up and down in emphasis and eliciting a louder squeal. "Karma gets back at you!"

Joanne lowered her head in shame and embarrassment.

Turning back to the not-all-that-defenseless Caterpie, Leaf contemplated on using her final pokéball. _I like Caterpie and who knows when I'll find one again. But this one is hostile and I would have preferred an obedient one, especially with an unstable team like mine. Hm..._

"Ah well, you only live once in a pokémon world! We can decide what to do with you later so... In you pop!"

Cheerfully, Leaf pushed the empty pokéball switch on the Caterpie's back. In her open palm, the ball rolled and rolled and rolled...

* * *

**A/N: **Here we have our first proper cliff-hanger! Will the Caterpie with a taste for vengeance be caught? Find out in the next chapter!

Real life and school have have caught up to me so updates will probably slow down now, but I will try to find time! Also, would you guys prefer longer chapters (2500-3500 words) but a longer wait (two or three weeks?), or shorter chapters (1000-2000 words) with weekly updates?

In FireRed:

-Couldn't avoid the old man... Sure he's great for beginners but if you clearly know how to catch a pokémon already, can't they give you an option whether you want to listen or not? Well, the teachy tv is a nice bonus, even if I wasn't going to use it.

-I was also an idiot and charged in without extra pokéballs and antidotes. I had counted on finding antidotes inside and got poisoned by a Weedle early. Ragnarok had to suffer from my idiocy for a bit. Well, now you guys know that Leaf won't be getting a Pikachu this time round...

Also replies to the few reviews I have gotten shall be put here instead of Pms like before, in case there are some common questions.

**Gabyy3**: I always love assurance that I'm making people laugh and that I'm not laughing by myself XD We'll see about that Abra/Alakazam when the time comes. I write most of this by instinct, as the events in the story are inspired by the mishaps that happen in my playthrough, although, there are a few things I want to add in the future to spice things up...

**Gin Nanashi**: Hehe, thank you! Leaf is a part of my inner thoughts and what the general (or maybe slightly insane) pokémon fan is like, or what I think they are like. Thus the 'typical' fangirl in the summary. I have a tendency to put on shipping goggles myself, so I understand the need for inward squealing and clenching of hearts from the smallest of hints ;D


	8. Ch7: Gimme Yer Money

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 7**

**Gimme Yer Money**

* * *

_**Previously:**_

_Turning back to the not-all-that-defenseless Caterpie, Leaf contemplated on using her final pokéball. ____I like Caterpie and who knows when I'll find one again. But this one is hostile and I would have preferred a____n____ obedient one, especially with an unstable team like mine. Hm..._

_"Ah well, you only live once in a pokémon world! We can decide what to do with you later so... In you pop!"_

_Cheerfully, Leaf pushed the empty pokéball switch on the Caterpie's back. In her open palm, the ball rolled and rolled and rolled..._

_**At present:**_

Pop! went the pokéball as it burst open, releasing the Caterpie into the wild. Leaf winced and let the broken pieces of the ball crumble away in her hands.

The Caterpie clumsily landed on the ground with a yelp of 'pi' and sensing that his opponents were perhaps way out of his league, he hastily wriggled away from the scary human. Far _far_ away.

Trainer and bird watched him go and Leaf felt no need to chase him. She couldn't try again; she ran out of pokéballs. She couldn't run back to Viridian because time was ticking away on them and they had said that they out of stock the previous day. Joanne wanted to eat the plump Caterpie, but bound by the sticky silk, she couldn't do a thing. She gave out a longing cry. "Row!"

Leaf sighed at her pokémon and crouched down to her level. Then she gave a smirk. "Now that you're immobile and willing to listen, we can finally work something out. _I_ have the solution to your freedom," she said, waggling her fingers and making ripping motions. "I'll help you, but only if you promise to do what I tell you. Do we have an agreement?"

Joanne stared with her black shiny eyes. She opened her beak to reply in some way but then her stomach growled. Loudly.

"Huh? You're still hungry?" Leaf went over to the berry bush and picked a handful of Pecha berries. She offered one to her Spearow. "Go ahead and try it. It's better than some squirmy Caterpie, anyway."

She hesitated and stared at the berry like it might grow a mouth and sharp teeth to bite her head off. Leaf broke the skin and let the juice dribble over her fingers in an attempt to make it look more delectable.

Then, slowly and cautiously, Joanne reached over with her beak and took the berry in her mouth whilst Leaf watched in almost scientific fascination. Instantly the bird's tongue was assaulted with an explosion of new flavours that she never had before. She swallowed the thing whole and found herself addicted as she ripped herself free from her bindings with new-found strength.

"Wah!" Shocked by her outburst, Leaf stumbled back and dropped the berries on the ground. Joanne pounced on these little morsels with no restraints. Leaf rose an eyebrow. "You like them that much?"

Curious, Leaf tried a Pecha berry herself. She rolled it around with her tongue before squashing it between her teeth and letting the juice run in her mouth. _It's sweet but not exceedingly sweet like peaches. More like apple sweet. _She licked her lips. It was hollow inside so she felt that whatever she had of the flesh wasn't enough.

She grinned as she saw Joanne pick all the berries off and then proceed to victimise the bush. She ate another berry but then had an inkling that she forgot something.

_Oh! Ragnarok! _She scavenged the bush in a frenzy for another Pecha berry, but the gluttonous Spearow had already cleared it out. She had the last one in her beak.

"Joanne... Be a good girl and give that to Ragnarok." she said, warningly. She held out a hand, expecting the Spearow to drop it there. "He needs it more than you. Please?"

The bird stared at her trainer. She had the treat in her grasp. And the girl was asking for the said treat. She considered. But couldn't resist. It was in her beak and the aroma was too much. So she lifted her head and gulped the final berry down.

"NOOO!" Leaf fell to the ground in despair. _Now Raggie will faint from his poison!_ "You silly bird!" She shook an angry fist at the menace.

Oblivious to her trainer's plight, Joanne flew around in giddy circles. "Spearow!" She cried out in delight, tummy full and satisfied.

With a flick of the wrist, Leaf shot the red beam at Joanne, succeeding at recalling her at last. "No more trouble from you." she bit out.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hey! You there!"

Leaf continued to speed-walk.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" She felt someone grab her shoulder and she was forced to spin around to face a bug catcher. "Let's battle!" he declared with a grin.

She pried him off. "Uh, no thanks. I'm kind of in a hurry-"

"C'mon! I can show you why bug-types are the best!" he pestered.

"Look kid, I like 'em enough, but I'm not sure about calling them _the_ best-"

"You're on!" He hopped back and called out his Metapod with wild look in his eyes. He clearly wasn't about to accept a 'no'.

-_but also I need to get out as soon as possible so I can heal my pokémon..._ Leaf sighed and sent out Roberto who studied his surroundings with a steady eye. He blinked and got into a battle ready position with a squeak.

"Metapod! Harden!" The cocoon pokémon glowed with energy throughout his body, like he might be evolving, and the light dispersed to reveal the Metapod with a shinier sheen and a solider stature.

Leaf watched this phenomenon with mild interest, but ultimately wasn't worried. "Robbie, use Quick Attack."

With a burst of sudden speed, the mouse pokémon launched himself at the bug, so fast that he left after-images behind him. Startled, Metapod was knocked back. Pretty soon, he picked himself back up.

The bug catcher grit his teeth. "Good shot, but you won't get us next time! Harden!"

Leaf rolled her eyes, amused. "Pffft. Quick Attack again!"

Metapod had initiated his Harden, but Roberto jumped at him, mid-buff, cancelling the move.

The kid gaped at their pokémon. "But- how- that's unfair! We're supposed to move in turns!"

"What? Says who?" Leaf cheekily stuck out her tongue. "We didn't make any rules. Besides, turns are _so_ boring. I'm sick of 'em. Quick Attack!"

"Uh, H-harden!"

Again, Metapod was hit before he could buff. Unable to see what went wrong in his strategy, the bug catcher stubbornly kept ordering Harden and his Metapod was made into a punching bag for the Rattata. Metapod could only faint and Roberto was without a scratch.

The bug catcher was distraught and confused. "Why?!"

Leaf blinked at him. Was there really any need to question 'why?' when it was that obvious? "Kid, you need to make the right balance between offence and defence. Everyone knows that."

He scrunched up his nose. "It's not over yet! Caterpie, come on out!"

Feeling time creeping up on them, Leaf commanded her pokémon. "C'mon, Robbie, let's finish this. Quick Attack."

With no delay, as soon as the Caterpie materialised on the field, Rattata blurred and hit him. Caterpie gave a pained cry but stood well nonetheless, setting him different from the wild Caterpie as they were results from what little training he had prior. Although, the Caterpie that Leaf encountered was a good deal more durable, having resisted several pecks from Joanne and then having enough courage to defend himself.

_Maybe he was released from a trainer._ Following this train of thought, Leaf considered the chances of that trainer being Blue...

Leaf shook off these idle thoughts as the Caterpie she was facing shot off a string of sticky silk at Roberto, as per his trainer's orders. "Aw, shoot!" Leaf clicked her tongue, her lapse in attention had costed Roberto's movement as he was wrapped neck down in silk.

The bug catcher found the chance to gloat. "Ha! Nothing your Rattata can do now!"

"... No worries." Leaf remembered something that made Rattata and Raticate so distinct and smiled to herself. "Chew through that silk, Robbie!"

The mouse dipped his head down and set to work, gnawing with his front teeth.

The boy scoffed. "What? There's no way..." He paused when he saw that it was evidently working. Soon, Roberto was free of his bindings. "What?!"

Leaf struck a Red pose. "Heh, these teeth aren't just for show. Quick Attack!"

Roberto complied without a complaint, knocking over the Caterpie but he wasn't out just yet. He struggled but climbed back up again.

But, Leaf was ruthless by nature. She wasn't going to let him have a minute of a break and went straight for the jugular. "Once more! Quick Attack!"

The bug catcher panicked and before he could shout for a Tackle, the Rattata made impact and Caterpie was out for the count.

Distressed, the bug catcher fumbled for his last pokéball. As he pulled it out, Leaf made a whine. "Another?! Gah!"

Taking note of Roberto's tired panting, she recalled him. "Take a rest. Now then..." she mumbled.

Leaf plucked a ball. "Go, Ida!"

"Go, Kakuna!"

The two pokémon materialised at the same time and had a staredown. The Mankey, however, lost patience quickly and made to scratch her backside.

Her trainer groaned at the unladylike action. "C'mon, Ida! Fight for me, please! I'll give you food!"

The keyword 'food' triggered a strong reaction from Ida. Having grown up an orphan, she had been forced to live on minimum sustenance for as long as she could remember. Fairly quickly, she had learnt that whenever passing humans ever mentioned the word 'food' or 'lunch' they had something special on them, something other than redundant nuts and berries. Something _filling_. Something to let her go on for longer.

Leaf shook a bag of store-bought biscuits to make her point.

Ooh! Those were a _very_ special treat! Ida knew that humans defended these brown yummy things more vehemently than usual, especially the females. She reached out for them but the girl held them up, away from her, and pointed meaningfully at the Kakuna who had been watching carefully. His trainer was a little confused, unsure whether it was fair to make a move or not.

Ida scrunched up her face in dislike and faced her opponent. She knew what she had to do for the yummies. "Scratch!"

The bug catcher jumped as the Mankey leapt forward in a burst of coiled up speed. "H-harden!"

Kakuna, clearly more experienced than Metapod, took an instant to buff up before Ida made contact. She frowned when she saw how little damage she had done.

As Leaf commanded more Scratches and the bug catcher more Hardens, the casual battle became a battle of durability. This tested the limits of pokémon trainers' determination and patience as they held heated gazes and their pokémon had their bouts of clashing.

Unfortunately, such a battle of durability was the last thing suited for a young newly-caught Mankey. She glared and glared at the Kakuna but the stupidly stoic Kakuna remained standing straight every time she put all her might into Scratching him. He was mocking her, she was sure of it. His cursed eyes were pits of laughing darkness chanting a monotone 'hahahahahah' and _ooh!_ he infuriated Ida.

With a bellow of anger, the Mankey went into a frenzy of furious swipes at the evil bug, relentless and uncaring if her nails were tearing off from the force. The pain didn't matter to her, as long as that invisible smirk was wiped off his villainous mug.

This time, her attacks had a noticeable effect. Kakuna winced as he was scratched and it seemed that the uncontrollable Mankey was aiming for his eyes so he had to close them. Unfortunately for him, his eyelids weren't as protective as the rest of his body so no amount of Hardening could help him out in that area.

Leaf's brows knitted together. One part of her was disappointed that Ida lost her temper so quickly and another part of her was wondering if her pokémon's Scratch had somehow evolved into Fury Swipes...

But she knew that she had to take action when the Kakuna fainted and Ida was still on top of the bug, clawing madly at his shell. The young bug catcher looked absolutely terrified. "That's enough, Ida!"

The Mankey turned to face her trainer and Leaf fought off an involuntary flinch. The look on her face was discomforting, to say the least. Her snout was upturned, her huffs were coming out in great heaves and her eyes were crimson red, almost demonic-like. She seemed to have completely lost herself in her anger. Her muscles tensed at Leaf and she prepared to make an assault on her trainer.

In an act of desperation, Leaf snapped the bag of biscuits open and hastily tossed it to the crazy Mankey. Thankfully, the scent of food seemed to bring her back to her senses, as she nimbly caught the treats and instantly began munching on them, ignoring whatever else was going on around her. Leaf let out a breath of relief.

"I ain't paying you!" Leaf looked towards her opponent, who was tearing up, clutching his net rather close to his body and giving her the stink eye. He had already returned his Kakuna. "You cheated and you hurt my pokémon!" he accused.

Leaf sighed and set herself the job of correcting him. "Hey, now. We never agreed on any rules and how do expect your pokémon to _not_ get hurt in a pokémon battle?! I won fair and square so gimme yer money, kid." She held her hand out, absolutely serious about getting paid for her troubles. She wanted antidotes to last the entire journey, so that she wouldn't make the mistake of letting her pokémon suffer from poison again.

"No!" The bug catcher wailed, and ran off with the dam of tears broken to bits. No doubt he was going home to complain to his mummy.

The elder trainer shrugged as she returned her sated Mankey, apparently uncaring that she just made a child cry. "Oh well, I tried."

xxxxxxxxxx

The sight of the exit terminal for Viridian Forest was a godsend for Leaf. She began thanking all things holy and Mew as she found the energy to sprint toward the exit. Ragnarok had fainted a few hours ago from his poison and the guilt and regret was weighing her down. She _never_ had her starter pokémon faint, not ever in the games. She needed to get to the Pewter City Pokémon Center as soon as possible. She was soclose-

"Pika~chu!"

Suddenly her vision was filled with yellow and her mind could only register electrifying pain before Leaf blacked out.

* * *

**A/N:** Ya gotta love them cliffhangers XD So will Leaf ever make it out of the forest and cure Ragnarok? And what the heck is going on with the Pikachu?! Find out in the next chapter!

Sorry for the longer wait than usual (and it isn't even equivalent to the length! Disgraceful!), I've had an eventful week going down to the other side of the country and back for school so I'm pretty tired. I promise to make the next chapter longer. Oh, please tell me what you guys thought of the battle. Was it dragged out for too long? Was it totally unfair, and was Leaf a nasty cheater? Oh wait, I agree with the last one :P She's breaking the 'game' on purpose, surely?

In FireRed: (almost wrote FireFred there, haha)

-It's a little sad that none of the newbie bug catchers can't make their cocoon pokémon use Tackle. It make the battles way too one-sided. Also annoying cuz they keep buffing up and taking too long to go _down_, gosh! (Also, why should using the word _Harden_ so many times make me feel dirty, damnit!)

-The trainer I based the bug catcher on was little Bug Catcher Charlie and the battle was kept pretty much the same, except his last Metapod was replaced with a Kakuna to make sure that his stare angered Ida. I mean, Metapod don't look threatening at all, just a little... ahem, stoned... Kakuna looks like he's constantly laughing at you only silently. Ain't that a perfect match up for a short-tempered Mankey?

**Gin Nanashi:** I do try to keep things quirky XD There's nothing better than seeing what would be considered one of the puniest pokémon turn the tables, no? Magikarp Power!


	9. Ch8: Fluffy

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 8**

**Fluffy**

* * *

Leaf woke up with an insistent headache and uncomfortable tingles all over her body. She groggily rose up from the plush bed. _A bed?_

She surveyed her surroundings and recognised the room as a standard single Pokémon Center room. Her pokéball belt sat on the bedside table and she could see her all her pokémon, sans Ragnarok, sleeping inside the red plastic. Confused as to how she got there, she tried to recall what happened.

Yellow and static. _Right... __Can't believe I__ got attacked by a wild Pikachu.__ Aw heck, is this what it feels like to lose a battle before it even started?_

She carefully shifted herself out of bed and noticed that she was still in her mucky clothes. Groaning, she took out a spare set of clothes from her bag, which was helpfully laid next to the bed, and headed for the bathroom with the full intention of having a nice long shower.

She emerged with a few plans sorted out. _One, find out what happened to me. Two, __find out__ where __on the __friggin'__ Pokémon World__ Ragnarok is now. Three, see if I can do a bit of training before I can challenge Brock... Oh wait, __I need to make sure that I'm actually in Pewter__._

Quickly parting the curtains, she peered out into the city outside.

But she had difficult time trying to get a good view of the city. The Pokémon Center was no luxury hotel and at ground level it was overshadowed by the taller, bigger buildings around it, so unless Leaf had x-ray vision it was impossible to see anything beyond the grey stone.

Hoping that grey stone was a clear link to Pewter City, she began to assume that she _was_ in Pewter City.

Keeping her head positive, she clipped her belt on and grabbed her bag.

Leaf made it to the lobby where the early risers were yawning their way about. A Nurse Joy looking completely identical to the one in Viridian, sat at the counter, a set smile on her face as she worked on the computer. Leaf briefly wondered if Nurse Joys would ever break from their stress but shooed such morbid thoughts away in favour of inquiring some important things out of her.

She slapped the desk loudly. "Excuse me! How did I get here? And where is my Charmander?" She tried not to wince as slapping the desk hurt more than she thought it would.

Nurse Joy took a glance at Leaf and her face lit up in recognition. "Oh! You're that girl that was brought in by that boy! He said that he found you lying on the Viridian Forest floor. It's good to see you walking about, shocks from Pikachu are a lot more common around here than you might think." she giggled. "You were fine when I checked you, perhaps a little stiff although it's nothing that a good rest can't cure. We healed all of your pokémon for you and as for your Charmander..."

Joy paused for a moment. "While Weedle poison isn't very lethal, it was left in his system for too long and he had to be put in a room at the back for overnight treatment." Before Leaf even had a chance to panic, the talkative Joy continued speaking. "We're pleased to report that he has made a full recovery from the poison."

Leaf let out a breath of relief. "Oh, thank Arceus..." She knew of what Joy was saying. She knew that Weedles weren't such creatures to be feared like perhaps a Seviper. But the reassurance lifted her spirits. She honestly didn't know what she would do if Arceus put her in a _Nuzlocke_ world and if she lost her crutch pokémon so soon. Weep a little? Break a little?

Nurse Joy smiled sympathetically, oblivious to the full extent of Leaf's fear. "Would you like to take him back now?"

Leaf agreed eagerly and Joy disappeared through the side door to fetch Ragnarok.

The young trainer was left to idle about in front of the counter. Looking around, she saw a plasma screen on the wall, flashing the latest coverage of the news. The moment Leaf saw a giant red 'R', she was intrigued.

The news anchor lady looked sombre and maybe a little disgusted when making her report. "Team Rocket, the criminal organisation who plagues the Kanto region today, has been getting more malicious as of late. There has been more and more reports of theft and it has been suspicions that they are performing inhumane experiments on pokémon. Their most recent sightings have been near Mt Moon so citizens living between Pewter City and Cerulean City are advised to be especially cautious..."

"Here is your Charmander!"

Nurse Joy's call caught Leaf's attention and she was presented with a familiar pokéball. Leaf took her pokémon from Joy's kind hands and let him out.

Ragnarok materialised, feeling absolutely exhausted from his night of constant fever and sickly sweat. He had been looking forward to seeing his trainer again but evidently not as much as she was. With a soft grunt of surprise, he found himself crushed by her embrace as she cried out:

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Raggie! I'll never let you experience this kind of suffering ever again, I swear!"

The young Charmander tapped a claw on her back to try to console her. Leaf reluctantly slid her arms off him and Ragnarok could see that his trainer was blubbering pretty badly. He gave her the smile of a saint. "Charmander." _It's okay._

Leaf sniffled. "Raggie." She choked out. Then she wiped her tears with her arms and grinned. "You have a big heart, you know that?"

She composed herself and got up from her knees. "Shall we get breakfast?"

Ragnarok nodded in agreement and trainer and pokémon walked away hand in hand.

Nurse Joy watched the two with proud eyes. Proud that there were such caring fellow humans when it was such a corrupt period of time. Joy honestly believed that there should be more trainers among the youngsters, who would treasure their friends, like this girl. An example would do them much good.

A malicious 'R' continued to blare on the screen.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hello, new recruit! Your name shall be Sherlock! Welcome to the family!"

The Weedle stared up at the cheery girl with a frown. She was talking nonsense, surely? He already had a name that his parents gave him when he was born and a happy family back home. Who was she to claim all these things like she had the right to?

He considered just going back in the ball so he would never be bothered again, when glanced at the pokéballs at her belt, eyes lingering on the orange lizard he had battled. He too was staring back with collected eyes, assured of his postition and unafraid of any threats. Not even Sherlock's poison could bend his faith.

The hairy bug sighed and knew his place. The lizard was holding back before, that much was certain. The fire on his tail indicated his type and with a single breath, he could have ended it.

Was he not already prepared for this outcome? Was he not the lone bug who volunteered himself, so that _he_ would be the one to confront death instead of _them_? The gods were merciful this time.

And now was the time for adaptation. He had to obey this human or face that lizard again. With an odd level of maturity, the Weedle resigned to his fate and made a hum of acknowledgement.

Leaf grinned happily and set down a hand in front of him. "C'mon, climb on my shoulder." she urged.

Sherlock did so, although cautiously at first, and settled next to her head. The possibility of stabbing her neck with poison never occurred to him even moments afterwards.

xxxxxxxxxx

It was a slightly misty when Leaf decided to begin training her team. It was certainly early in the morning after all and as the sun started to shy out from the clouds, the air cleared out little by little.

There was another person training on the rocky road of Route 2, to Leaf's surprise. With a party of merely a Bulbasaur and a Pikachu, doing what appeared to be extremely intense training (for a staring contest), was the future Champion, Red. He was concentrated on his two pokémon and gave no indication of noticing Leaf's presence.

Uncontrollable excitement bubbled up from Leaf's chest. "Hey, Red!" she called out, waving an arm so fiercely that it pulled at the sockets. Sherlock clung on with some annoyance. "What a happy coincidence it is to see you here!"

Red heard her voice and flinched. He turned to Leaf stiffly and nodded in greeting, with his cap lowered over his eyes. His pokémon broke off their training upon seeing that there was a new arrival, the Pikachu in particular looked absolutely ecstatic.

"Pika!" The mouse bounded to Leaf's direction with a spark of energy and in a flash, Red was there to intercept his pokémon's plans by snatching the yellow body up from the ground.

Such a rash action was certainly not approved by Pikachu. Instantly, Red received a painful shock from his pokémon and he yelped out. Still, he clung on, even when he was out of it.

Seeing that Red wouldn't give up despite being disoriented, Pikachu halted the Thundershock with a huff and defiantly turned to the other direction.

Leaf was rather surprised to see this event. _The_ Red had trouble with controlling his pokémon? And with Pikachu, his supposed life-long partner? It was mildly disappointing, but also a bit of a relief for Leaf. She wasn't alone with this problem, she now knew.

With the new opportunity, Leaf savoured the sight of the infamous pokémon mascot. Yellow fur (_yes! Pokémon had fur! Touchable fluffy fur!_) with black stripes, beady innocent eyes and twitching black tipped ears, Leaf felt tempted to take Pikachu away from Red for herself.

Pelting Pikachu with love using her eyes, she squealed with her palms cupping her face. "Pikachu~ Oh, Arceus, thank you!"

Snapping back to reality at last, Red caught Leaf's words and quirked a brow. Beyond that, he did nothing else, not even a blush of embarrassment.

Pikachu wriggled in his arms and Red let her hop out, trusting her not to try anything funny but not before giving her a warning glance. She sulked away from her trainer.

With the back facing Leaf, she could figure out the gender. _Pikachu's tail is heart-shaped! _She noticed with a loud gasp, watching wide-eyed as the said curved tail flop up and down. Her mind collapsed down a tumbling spiral. _Red's Pikachu was supposed to be male, was he not? Why is he a _she_?!_

She now eyed the _female_ Pikachu like she was some grotesque monstrosity of the universe that needed to be understood, straight away. The yellow mouse was, of course with her back turned, oblivious.

Red sighed and gave up trying to understand what the girl was thinking. She switched from one persona to another far too quickly to be normal. So he decided to simply continue training Bulbasaur, set on ignoring the flabbergasted girl.

Sherlock also sighed and lamented to the skies that he just _had to_ get the weirdest trainer of them all. He nudged his body on the side of her face, prickling her skin with his hairs.

Leaf shivered uncomfortably from the odd sensation and threw an accusing stare at the culprit who merely looked unimpressed. Pouting, she turned to Red again.

She opened her mouth to speak, but then changed her mind, smiling to herself as she watched him direct his Bulbasaur to snap his vines in the air, making him aim for the twirling green leaves for accuracy practice.

Leaf affectionately patted the head of her Weedle. He grimaced petulantly, although Leaf couldn't see it from her angle. "C'mon, Sherlock! Let's see what you can do!"

And so they made for another area to commence their training session.

xxxxxxxxxx

Gleeful of her team's progress, Leaf skipped all the way back to Pewter City under the early afternoon sun. Ragnarok trotted after her, marvelling at his metallic elongated claws, watching with intrigue as they glinted in the light.

The moment Ragnarok learnt Metal Claw was one of anticipation for the Charmander, as he was a step closer to getting wings, a fist-pumping 'yes!' for Leaf as it was sure to prove itself useful for batting Brock.

Of course there was another moment that could not let itself be forgotten. Sherlock, napping inside his pokéball, cosy inside his new cocoon.

It was quite the phenomenon to see for Leaf. Evolution certainly didn't happen everyday and never in front of your own eyes in her previous world. A funny thought crossed her mind: _ha, imagine that, seeing an ape morph into a human so suddenly!_

While they had some similarities, watching your hairy worm emit blinding light and change shape so quickly was not something natural. Leaf pondered about the science behind it. _We called it metamorphosis back in my world, when a species goes through a complete change, changing colour and shape and whatnot. So rather than evolution this is metamorphosis? Because evolution applies only when a species change super gradually over time..._

She entertained the thought of someone exclaiming: _"Wow, my pokémon is going through __**metamorphosis**__!"_ and thought it as ridiculous.

Leaf threw her thoughts away. _Screw science! This is Pokémon! Evolution sounds cooler anyway!_

Natural or not, she gave her newly evolved Kakuna a congratulatory hug, who received it passively.

There was a certain pokémon who didn't take the change so well, however. Ida, who had been Sherlock's training partner, went wild when he evolved, eyes red with fury and lunging violently at the poor Kakuna. It was likely a lingering effect from her battle with the other Kakuna. So Leaf returned the crazy Mankey before she could hurt Sherlock and kept her inside to let her cool down, leaving her under-levelled compared with the rest of the team.

Despite the minor disappointment, Leaf believed that they would be okay. Brock only had two pokémon after all, not much to be worried about.

They were going to trample Brock and his rocks to the ground. They would... after a quick trip to the Pokémon Center, of course.

xxxxxxxxxx

Once you made into the city centre, Pewter City wasn't all that hard to navigate. Signposts were scattered across the whole town, so that even if you were to get lost you would eventually make it to your destination by looking up, unless you were blind or had neck problems.

It would also make it easier to identify a tourist. Leaf made no effort to look discreet when looking at the signs for the gym and it had urged a too-friendly local to approach her.

"Hi!" he greeted, smiling so much that his face looked like it would break. "Did you check out the museum?"

Leaf blinked owlishly at the young man, probably about nineteen or so, and then adjusted her face to reflect his. "Nope. Why?"

"Really? You absolutely have to go!" he urged, grabbing Leaf's arm and dragging her across the city. It was out of part shock and part curiosity that she let him. _There was a museum? Hm... I'm forgetting things..._

He stopped and made a grand gesture at a large old, old, building. "This is it, the museum."

Leaf arched her head to read the bold lettering on the entrance. "_Pewter Museum of Science_. Oh."

Her first thought was something along the lines of:_ Aw, this is going to be crummy_. Her childhood was filled with these things and Leaf has had enough of science and the like.

But already she was being ushered into a guided tour group. "You have to pay to get in, but it's worth it. See you around." With that, the promotion man sauntered off to coerce more suckers.

Leaf crossed her arms in distaste but a moment later, she considered it. _Maybe it wouldn't be so bad? There were Aerodactyl fossils in there if I remember correctly. Among other pokémon related things. Just... think of this as a strictly Pokémon museum! Nothing stuffy like science!_

Keeping her mind bubbling with these positive thoughts, Leaf entered with the group and paid the entrance fee.

xxxxxxxxxx

Hours later, Leaf stumbled out of the Pewter museum looking like she had seen a Machamp wear a frilly pink dress and make out with an Octillery.

She shivered and hugged herself. "I did not need to know about evolution _that_ intimately."

"Yo! Leaf!"

Said girl turned to the source of noise, still donning the face of a traumatised victim. Blue, who had called out in order to brag of his recent victory, was taken aback by her expression. "Woah, you don't look good. Not that you ever did."

The insult brought part of the usual Leaf back to life. "Hey, I resent that! This is a rockin' bod!" she crooned, laying her hands on her hips and sticking her chest out for all its worth.

Blue sniggered. "You wish."

Leaf stuck her tongue out. "Leaf is pretty and beautiful and you know it!" _She's better than my old body, _she thought to herself, but knew better than to say it aloud.

Ignoring her slip-up, and assuming that her speaking in third-person was just a whim of hers, Blue took notice of the building behind her. "The museum, huh?" he smirked at Leaf condescendingly. "Only a nerd like you would spend time in a place like that."

His careless words made Leaf bristle with rekindled anger. "What's wrong with being a _nerd_?" she growled.

Blue blinked. Leaf blinked back at him and then sighed as she confirmed once more who she was talking to. _He's not like the others, remember that._ "Never mind."

"Okay..." Blue frowned at the strange girl, but the feeling of being weirded out by her was soon consumed by his own pride. "Ha! Guess what I got! The Boulder Badge!"

He took out his badge case and indeed, the first badge slot was filled. Leaf admired it with a faint 'ooh', stroking Blue's ego even more. "I beat Brock first and it won't be long before I become champion too!"

"Eh, good for you." Leaf remarked apathetically. "Why don't you become the first sacrificial Mareep to Giratina while you're at it?"

"What?"

"Nothing~" She rolled her eyes playfully. "Well, it looks like we need to pull up some weight ourselves. Brock, here we come and you'd better be afraid! Be ready to pee your pants! Bwah-hah-hah!"

Diabolically laughing all the way, she sprang down the stone path that Blue came from.

Blue stared after her balefully. "What?" he repeated. Then he shook his head to forget the silly girl and moved on. He had a mountain to pass through after all.

* * *

**A/N:** It's taken me this long to reach the first gym! Yes, I promise you that the next chapter will have Leaf battling Brock. And hello longest chapter ever!

Decided I would revise my older chapters a bit so I could solidify Leaf's character. Also, I may have been giving you too many free gifts and underestimating your intelligences in my previous author's notes. Need to force you guys to be the literary detectives now! The new readers anyway. The older ones have already been spoiled, I am severely sorry (There's nothing too deep though, just that some mystery is better than none). The only thing changed that might be of significance is that Leaf's age has been lowered to match her body, so she's a twelve year old in body and mind.

In FireRed:

-Sherlock had a Mild nature so I wasn't sure how to fit that in at first but I'm glad it worked out in the end. I think it did anyway. Bleh. But why am I a magnet for the quiet pokémon? Two Milds and a Calm. Really?

-The dude that guided Leaf to the museum was rather pushy if you ask me. How could he not be working for the museum?

**Gin Nanashi: **You liked the Caterpie that much, huh? Perhaps if he gains more popularity he can make a comeback (I have an idea for that :D) Yeah, in real life ya gotta expect anything XP And thank youuu!


	10. Ch9: Cliché

**The Third Challenger**

**Chapter 9**

**Cliché**

* * *

With a loud resounding 'bam!', the doors to the Pewter City Gym slammed open and standing there was a girl with a provoking grin. "I am Leaf Green and I am here to challenge the Gym Leader!" she yelled out.

The Gym was one humongous room with a rocky battlefield set up in the centre and stands for occasional audiences by the sides. Brock seemed to have gone for a 'cave' theme with minimal lighting (giving the impression that it was dark, though Leaf could see what was in front of her) and numerous stalagmites and stalactites of various shapes and sizes protruding from the ground and hanging from the ceiling. The conical rocks had a mystical feel to them, lit up by the yellow stage lights, making Leaf feel like she was stepping into a dungeon in an RPG game.

Ah, wait, she _was_ in an RPG game. Technically.

A professional looking man with a suit and tie perked up from his post and went to greet the newcomer, despite the somewhat rude entrance.

"Hiya! Do you want to dream big?" he asked, a little over-enthusiastic and sounding awfully rehearsed. "Do you dare to dream of becoming the Pokémon champ?"

Leaf remained silent at first for this question. It wasn't one she could easily answer, given that she _didn't_ dream big and only wanted adventure. So she shrugged. "I'm just battling for a badge."

Still, the gym guide kept smiling. "I'm no trainer, but I can advise you on how to win. Let me take you to the top."

Leaf sniffed in her most haughty expression. "No thank you. Anything you can tell me is something I already know."

"It's a free service! Let's get happening!"

Despite prompting a groan out of Leaf, he continued. "The first pokémon out in a match has to be the most important choice. It may even be the choice that decides the whole battle so pick wisely if you want to gain advantages."

"Yeah, yeah. I've seen enough 'Link' battles to know that." Already, she was becoming antsy about getting to battle Brock. "Can I battle now?"

Suddenly he produced a scanner in his hand and he gestured to it. "Sure. Just gotta make sure that you have your trainer id with you, yeah?"

"Oh." Leaf scoured her bag for the card and obediently handed it over. The guide quickly scanned it and gave it back.

"You're good to go!" he grinned and made a thumbs up. "Go give 'em a good thrashing, champ!"

She swiftly returned the thumbs up with a wink. "Yup! That's what I'm planning to do!"

A boy clad in a green camper's outfit, standing on the other side of the battlefield in the trainer's rectangle, shouted at her before she could squint at the shadows to look for the Gym Leader. "Stop right there, kid! You're still light years from facing Brock!"

In response to this child, who didn't know the meaning of light years, Leaf stood in her rectangle and thrust her arms out in an agitating manner. "Come at me, bro!"

He blinked and eyed her strangely. She sneered back at him. "Hurry up and send out your pokémon, _kid._" she shot back, icily.

Insulted, the camper reached for his pokémon while Leaf already had hers in hand. The gym guide strode over to the sidelines to act as referee. "Trainers can use all of their six pokémon. Ready! Begin!"

The competing trainers sent their battlers out at the same time.

"Go, Geodude!"

"Go, Ida!"

The rock pokémon materialised with a battle cry and a show of strength by pounding his solid fists together. He blended perfectly with the field and only his open eyes gave away his presence. Leaf whipped out her pokédex to register his entry. She tuned out the mechanical voice explaining how Geodude's had high defence. Every pokémon fan knew that!

And she had a battle to focus on.

Her Mankey seemed to have forgotten all about her Kakuna fury and starting responding to Geodude's taunts with her own taunts, by spinning round to show her backside and slapping it mockingly.

Leaf giggled at her pokémon's antics, especially when Geodude's bulging facial tics were growing more and more prominent.

Feeling quite rightly outraged along with his pokémon, the camper made the first order: "Geodude, Tackle!"

While Geodude hauled his heavy body across the field, Leaf made her own counter. "Ida, Low Kick! Tip him over!"

The nimble Mankey shot her leg out underneath Geodude before he could slam against her and he was easily flipped like a pancake. He fell flat on his face with a grunt of pain.

"Don't stop there!" Leaf pressed. "Finish him while he's still recovering! Low Kick!"

Happy to oblige, Ida landed a brutal kick to the rock pokémon, who had been in the midst of picking himself up, and sent him rolling harshly several metres back. He couldn't find the energy get up again.

The camper sighed and returned his pokémon. He knew that this outcome would come when she sent out a Mankey. He gravely lost to superior speed and type advantage. But he knew that his next pokémon wasn't going to lose as easily.

"Go! Sandshrew!"

The new pokémon appeared to be a yellow square patterned ball before unfurling to reveal the sand mouse. He opened his mouth wide to yawn cutely, before he tensed up for battle.

Leaf had the strong desire to fangirl but had to hold that inner self down. _Stopitstopitstopit!_

She briefly took out her pokédex to register Sandshrew and ignored it when it started telling her about the strong hide of Sandshrews.

Ida revved herself up to make more taunts, but her trainer recalled her before she could get the chance. "You've had your fun, but it's Roberto's turn, now." she explained.

The Mankey pouted at her from inside the pokéball. Leaf laughed as she saw this through the red plastic. "Don't worry, you can take part in battling Brock."

She pocketed Ida's pokéball and sent out her Rattata. "Roberto, you're up!"

Roberto materialised, already in battle ready position. So Leaf decided to milk this opportunity for all its worth. "Quick Attack!"

The attack landed true with barely a second to react and the Sandshrew took it with a slight wince though he stood strong. While Roberto still had his head butting into Sandshrew's chest, the camper retaliated. "Scratch, now!"

Sandshrew's foe was right in front of him so he didn't hesitate with his claws. He slashed and Roberto cried out in pain.

Leaf floundered for a bit. "Ah! Retreat! Retreat, Roberto!"

He didn't need to be told twice. Using his strong Rattata survival instincts, he bounced off the sand mouse and went back to his side of the field to lick his wounds. The Sandshrew was looking as healthy as ever, seemingly indifferent to the earlier attack.

The camper grinned haughtily, pleased that he finally made his first hit. "Ha! How do you like that!"

Sandshrew was honing his claws on the rock.

Displeased by the turn of events, Leaf shouted out an order with more force than usual. "Quick Attack!"

Roberto did as he was told except with his own twist. He blurred across the field and just as the Sandshrew was about to unleash his claw on the rat again, he blurred out of his range and right around so that he was behind his opponent. There, he landed a surprise attack on the Sandshrew's back using his own claws.

Given that Sandshrew's skin on his back was covered in a tough layer of hide this attack did hardly any damage.

_Damn!_ Leaf cursed inside her head. _It was a good idea... For any other pokémon! Roberto, tough luck!_

Sandshrew turned around to give the disgruntled Roberto a smirk and another Scratch. The Rattata was forced to recoil back.

Leaf grit her teeth and thought of how to bring this match to a victory. She couldn't think of one, not without a messy end. _Come on, powers of seven years long of pokémon fangalism, don't fail me now!_

Opening her mouth order another Quick Attack because, _dammit what choice do I have? s_he was interrupted mid-sentence by a boy, who's self-confidence was growing stronger and stronger.

"Going to use Quick Attack, again?" The camper mocked. "Well, think again! Defence Curl!"

Going back to the position he was sent out to field in, Sandshrew curled up, concealing any weak points and specifically the soft white underbelly that Roberto now knew to aim for. Leaf groaned. _Great, now his already high defence is even higher._

Plans foiled, the rat started to slow down, having heard his trainer's intended order anyway, but couldn't prevent himself from crashing into the ball nonetheless.

Seeing the perfectly balled up Sandshrew roll harmlessly from the crash gifted Leaf with an idea. "Quick Attack, Roberto! Don't stop! In fact, feel free to play ball! AHAHAHA!"

"What?" The camper uttered, surprised by Leaf's strange act of insanity. Then he was forced to watch his pokémon roll around at turbo washing machine speed by a Quick Attack-powered Rattata. It took him a few moments to realise what Leaf's intentions were.

"Sandshrew, uncurl yourself!" he ordered, hoping that he wouldn't be too late.

The sand mouse did so carefully and Roberto hopped away just in case. He watched as the Sandshrew hobbled from side to side like a drunken old bum. He was confused.

"Yeah!" Leaf cheered, eyes lighting up in triumph. "Just as planned! C'mon, Roberto! Quick Attack his belly!"

The rat shot off in a blur.

Feeling the panic settle in, the camper clung to a hope that he could still win. "S-scratch!"

Roberto charged and the instant he came within range, the Sandshrew blindly slammed a claw against the rat's nose. He went on scratching in empty air for a while and Roberto was knocked out on the ground.

The camper smiled and Leaf blinked. _W-was that a critical? Not fair!_

Bitter about that outcome after all that effort, she shot a red beam at Roberto's motionless body and he was sent back to his pokéball. In a snap decision, she released her next pokémon.

"Go, Joanne! Peck that Sandshrew's face off before he recovers! Don't let Roberto's efforts go to waste!"

The Spearow flapped about idly for only one second before racing to her opponent. She wondered if this thing was tasty. And assaulted the confused Sandshrew's face with numerous sharp pecks.

She flew back when she realised that sand mice weren't her thing. Too dry for her tastes.

But she already did her damage. Sandshrew lay face down on the ground, unconscious.

The Gym Guide raised an arm in Leaf's side. "Victory goes to Challenger Leaf!"

Leaf nodded to herself proudly. "Yup! Blessed by Victini, that we are!" She returned Joanne to her ball before the thought of testing the walls for windows crossed her mind.

The camper sulked but congratulated her, nonetheless. He had to.

She heard slow but loud clapping from the back. "Good work, there! For a new trainer, you are quite impressive."

From the shadows, emerged a tall, tanned man with closed eyes. Or teen. Leaf wasn't sure. He looked youthful but he was so dang _tall_. And wise. Well, Leaf hadn't seen proof of his wisdom yet but he emitted the right aura, like he demanded respect.

He stood with his hands on his hips. "I'm Brock! I'm Pewter's Gym Leader!"

Whilst scrutinising him, Leaf burst out: "How old are you?"

Brock seemed to be caught off guard by the question, but he laughed heartily. "I'm seventeen. I must say, I don't get asked that often. Ha, ha!"

"Heh, heh. Sorry, just curious." Leaf laughed awkwardly. Not her fault that both the games and anime leave things ambiguous. She prepared a pokéball. "Can we battle?"

"Of course!" He grinned, and walked to the camper's position. Said boy scrambled off to the sidelines and then Brock's rectangle of land began rising to become a pedestal, with a whir of metallic grinding. "I believe in rock hard defence and determination! That's why my pokémon are all the rock type!" Brock bellowed from above as he stood still, unfazed by all the movement. Leaf gaped at the Pokémon League symbol, emblazoned in all its magnificence on the pedestal's face. "Do you still want to challenge me?"

Leaf snapped to Brock's echoing voice. "Yes!" she yelled up, firmly. Sure, she was impressed but that was nothing to put her off.

"Fine then!" The gym leader smirked to himself. In his experience growing up to inherit the gym, he found that quite a few children back off when he deliberately tried to intimidate them. She was already showing more courage than the norm. "Show me your best! Go, Geodude!"

The challenger responded quickly. "Go, Ida!"

The two pokémon faced each other on the field, feeling remarkably pressured.

Leaf could feel the rushing gym leader theme blaring through her ears. For others in this world, music was a distraction in a battle. Why would you play music if the battle noises from the pokémon and their super powers would drown the music completely? But for Leaf it was a long-time comfort. It helped her get in the mood, get her blood pumping and strategize on the fly. Pokémon without music felt _wrong_. Leaf kept her head filled with these beats even if it looked strange bobbing her head up and down mid-battle.

"Low Kick!" she ordered.

With a squeak that sounded suspiciously like an obedient 'ookey', Ida leapt forward and stretched her leg out.

"Defence Curl!" Brock yelled.

Geodude crossed his arms in front of his face making himself compact as Ida kicked her leg on them. Instead of being flipped over with ease, like the camper's Geodude, this Geodude was pushed back harshly. He removed his arms from his face, revealing that it was clean of injuries. His arms, however, suffered the worst of the attack, spider web cracks running down to his elbows.

The pokémon toughed it out, despite the pain. "I specifically trained my pokémon to have a high threshold for pain. Nothing can ever put them off once they have committed to their task." Brock boasted. "I wonder if you have done the same for your pokémon? Tackle, Geodude!"

Geodude propelled himself towards the Mankey, who was startled by his speed. His hit landed true on the tummy and Ida clutched at the area, wincing.

"Tch." Leaf clicked her tongue. _Shouldn't have expected it to be easy. _"C'mon, Low Kick, again! He won't last for long!"

Ida quite happily kicked the living rock despite her stinging injuries, and Geodude was unable to use his cracked arms to defend the two super-effective attacks in a row. The rock pokemon was now struggling to stay conscious. Despite how the odds were looking, Brock didn't break a single drop of sweat.

Spotting her advantage, Leaf didn't waste a second. "One more Low Kick!"

Brock smirked. "Do it, Geodude!"

As Ida lunged forward, leg first, the injured Geodude brought his arms up as high as he could, hands clasped together, and in the last possible second, he hammered it down onto the incoming kick.

A loud and very distinct snap echoed around the suddenly silent gym.

Leaf froze in shock, unable to comprehend what just happened. The gym guide watched on, sunglasses veiling the expression in his eyes.

And haunting silence was broken. The Mankey gave out a long, piercing howl of intense pain and began clawing blindly at the rock pokémon, the cause for the pain. She couldn't forgive he had done, **never.**

The Geodude took the insane attacks to his face, unable to dodge or move anything. His job was done and so he awaited the eventual arrival of oblivion. It came and he welcomed it.

Understandably, Ida never ceased her rampage on her opponent, even when he was down. She pinned his limp form on the ground and made to make new gruesome drawings on his face and she was prevented from doing so by the somewhat morose Gym Leader when he recalled his fallen pokémon.

Her angry red eyes shot up to meet with the young man's and he stared her down with equal intensity. A century passed between them and somehow, the Mankey's fury was soaked up and spent. She limped back to her trainer, hiding behind her shadow and cradling her now useless leg.

Leaf snapped out of her stupor when she felt her strangely docile pokémon's rough fur brush against her bare calf. She winced at the obviously broken bone on her leg and returned the poor pokémon so she could nurse her injuries in private. She inwardly hoped that the Pokémon Center's services were really as good as they say.

Turning the Gym Leader again, she was a little taken aback when she saw a sad smile drawn on his face. "You know, you should really take better care of your pokémon." he criticized. "Flying into a rage is never going to help anyone."

_Your Geodude is the one who made her so mad! _Leaf reeled in the retort, knowing inside from many episodes of anime where the true problem lay. Pokémon were hurt all the time in battles and while the anime covered it up as much as possible, the manga let all the seriousness sink in. They could potentially **die** and yet they kept on battling. All for the sake of their trainer.

Leaf could admire that and even desire for such devotion for herself, but it was just plain foolish to think that such loyalty could be developed immediately. She saw that Ida, Roberto, Joanne and Sherlock could watch her get hurt and not lift a finger, paw, wing or barbed tail to help her. Maybe Roberto would help out of calculated reason, but did they even like her? If Brock wasn't there to stamp out Ida's fuse, what could have stopped her from turning on her trainer? Calming Ida down was supposed to be _her_ job as the trainer and she couldn't even do _that_ right.

Her gaze met with Brock's again and the look of adult pity was wiped off his face when he saw the raw, burning determination in her eyes.

"You are right. We haven't built a level of trust, strong enough to truly communicate, like you with your Geodude. Not _yet_. That is why I'm – no, - **we're** here. To build on that trust and create a bond. Heh."

She giggled suddenly and put a hand to her hip to grip a pokéball from her belt. "You should be honoured," she continued. "You are able to bear witness to the unpolished glory of TEAM LEAF GREEN! You're up, Ragnarok! Show 'em what we're made of!"

The young Charmander entered the battlefield with a solid roar, his fiery mood fuelling on his trainer's emotions.

_This is something that I _know_ I have done right. _Leaf smirked. "Send out your next pokémon already, you wimp!"

Brock chuckled, despite being insulted. He shall make sure that this would be a good challenge. "This is where the real battle begins! Let's rock, Onix!"

The seemingly small pokéball, that Brock so casually tossed out, opened up to release a colossal snake of rocks who seemed to have trouble fitting his entire frame inside the gym. His mighty roar rumbled the walls and floor.

Leaf blinked up at the snake thing. Yes, she knew that this was going to be one of the biggest pokémon she was going to see and she knew for a long time that Brock had this guy up his sleeve. But it was the sheer _size _of him.

Ragnarok quivered on his feet as Onix stared down on them, mocking the little people for being so darn little. He wasn't entirely sure how he could take this thing down...

After she got over the size of their opponent, his trainer even laughed in the scary Onix's face. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" she yelled, pumping her fists and quoting one of the most clichéd lines in existence. "Bring it on!"

* * *

**AN: **And that's where it ends for the day! Phew, biggest chunk of action I've ever written!

This has ended up a lot more serious than I intended it to be, does anyone mind? Need to change the summary again...

In FireRed:

-The gym battle was so disappointing that it wasn't even funny. Could have sweeped the whole gym with a level 10 Ida. And I had a harder time with the camper! I couldn't have that, now could I? The others need a chance at the spotlight and Brock needs to live up to his Gym Leaderness.

**Redcake: **Yeah! One of my life goals complete!

**Gin Nanashi: **Here's special splash of morbid just for you! Yay! And Leaf's reaction was partly because of Leaf herself and stuff we don't flipping know about pokémon. Well, it's a kids game, they don't need to know ;D

**GokuaVergil: **Glad you like it! And we have yet to reach the part that matters!


End file.
